Did you know that…
- As the Civil War wound down, the Confederate Army turned Charleston’s fancy Washington Racecourse & Jockey Club into a makeshift prison to house captured Union soldiers. Of those, 260 died and were quickly buried in a mass grave behind the grandstands. When the Confederate soldiers left, freed slaves stayed on, unearthed the Union soldiers, and gave them a proper burial in a new cemetery. On the surrounding fence, an inscription: “Martyrs of the Racecourse.”On May 1, 1865, some 10,000 freed slaves then marched around the racetrack, carrying flowers and singing—the first Memorial Day on record.
- On May 5, 1868, General John Logan, commander of the fraternal organization, the Grand Army of the Republic, officially established Memorial Day. On May 30, 1868, the first Memorial Day was celebrated with the laying of flowers on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
- During WWI, 1914-1918, some one million soldiers were wounded, went missing, or died in Belgium’s Flanders Fields. The exploding artillery shells brought buried poppy seeds to the surface that then sprouted and bloomed. On May 3, 1915, amazed by all the red poppies, Canadian Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae wrote “In Flanders Fields.” It begins with:
“In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row, that
Mark our place…” - In 1918, thanks to and inspired by McCrae’s poem, Molina Bell Michael started promoting red poppies to support all veterans, a badge of honor. Their sales ultimately raised millions for veterans, war widows, and orphans. In 1918, Memorial Day began to honor the dead, not just from the Civil War, but all wars. When Molina died on May 10, 1944, veterans made 3,223 poppies, wove them into a blanket, and laid it on her grave.
- In 1924, the American Legion Auxiliary began the National Poppy Program. The poppies, given to members, were exchanged for donations to support veterans, active-duty military personnel, and their families—a symbol of remembrance.
- The National Holiday Act of 1971 moved Memorial Day from May 30 to the last Monday in May, giving us a 3-day weekend of shore and mountain trips, cookouts, and feet-up staycations—and a tendency to forget the day’s true meaning.
- On May 28, 2012’s Memorial Day, U.S. Air Force veteran Dan Littley said, “The solemnity of this day has been forgotten. We’ve lost the reason for this holiday and have forgotten the men who made the ultimate sacrifice.”
Lest we, too, forget… ~ Carol
