While “Cook’n” is about recipes, it is also about laughter, trivia and other interesting facts that don’t necessarily relate to food. So take a minute to read about Memorial Day, why it is celebrated, and what we should remember. It is the perfect time to remind our families that young men and women died so that we could enjoy the freedom of this very moment.
1. Memorial day was originally called Decoration Day. It was
thus called in the 1860’s when flowers were placed on the
graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington
National Cemetery.
2. Waterloo, New York, was officially named the birthplace
of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966.
3. After World War 1, this holiday was changed from honoring
those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring
Americans who died fighting in any war.
4. The National Holiday Act of 1971, assigned the last Monday
in May as Memorial Day.
5. The wearing of poppies is a result of a poem written in
1915 by Moina Michael. Inspired by the poem “In Flanders
Fields”, Moina wrote the following:
We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.
6. Ms. Michael began wearing poppies and selling poppies
with the money raised going to benefit servicemen in need.
7. In 1922 the Veterans of Foreign Wars became the first
Veterans’ organization to nationally sell poppies.
8. In 1948 the US Post Office honored Ms. Michael for her
roll in founding the National Poppy movement, with a
red 3 cent postage stamp with her likeness on it.
9. There are 260,000 graves at Arlington National Cemetery.
10. On the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers
of the 3d U.S. Infantry place small American flags at
each of these graves. They then patrol 24 hours a day
during the Memorial Day week-end to make sure the
flags remain standing.
11. A “National Moment of Remembrance” resolution was
passed on December 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m.
local time, on Memorial day, all Americans “To voluntarily
and informally observe in their own way a Moment of
Remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they
are doing for a moment of silence or listening to ‘Taps’.”
Here is another great link to learn more about this day, as well as view
Memorial Day videos and music.
