You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

[Lee Stewart]

A retired Union Army major general, John A. Logan, the commander-in-chief of a veterans' group, which was called the Grand Army of the Republic, set the date of the holiday for May 30.

[Lee Stewart]

The day we now observe as Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day so that the nation could place flowers on the graves of those fallen in battle, who in Logan's words "now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land."

[Lee Stewart]

May 30 was chosen for the holiday because it was not the anniversary of any particular battle.

[Lee Stewart]

Some historians believe that the date for the holiday was selected to ensure that flowers across the country would be in full bloom by that time.

[Lee Stewart]

Decoration Day, or Memorial Day, was begun to honor those who died during the Civil War. But once the United States entered World War I, the holiday was broadened to commemorate American soldiers who died in all wars.

[Lee Stewart]

The familiar, mournful strains of the solitary bugler were first played during a burial ceremony for a fallen Civil War soldier in 1862. Both the Union and Confederate armies performed the song at funerals, and it has become a tradition to play it at military funerals and at ceremonies acknowledging the unknown soldier on Memorial Day. Taps, whose composer is not known, is also used to signal lights out for those serving in the military.

[Lee Stewart]

On Memorial Day the American flag should be flown at half-staff from sunrise until noon only, then it is to be raised to the top of the pole until sunset, to honor the nation's war heroes.

[Lee Stewart]

The humanitarian organization "No Greater Love" conceived the idea of a "National Moment of Remembrance" to remind people of the real reason we observe Memorial Day. Americans are asked to maintain a minute of silence at 3 p.m. local time to honor those who died for our country. President Bill Clinton signed the National Moment of Silence Act into law in 2000.

[Lee Stewart]

On Memorial Day, veterans sell artificial poppies that are worn as a symbol of remembrance. The tradition originates from the words in the poem "In Flanders Fields" that was penned by John McCrae, a Canadian doctor who served during World War I. McCrae was struck by the color contrast of the red poppies against the bleak battle-scarred landscape of Belgium. The poem's immortal opening stanza reads: "In Flanders fields the poppies blow. Between the crosses, row on row."

[Lee Stewart]

Memorial Day, May 30,1922, was selected as the day when the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated to President Abraham Lincoln, whose assassination occurred just as the Civil War was ending.