REMEMBER THE FALLEN: MAY 30

Memorial Day was first observed May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

Wounds were still deep, then. Southern states wouldn’t honor their dead on the same date as the Northern states. 

After World War I, the holiday became a memorial not just to those who died in the Civil War, but to all Americans who died in any war.

Memorial Day also became the holiday symbolized by the red poppy. Moina Michael, a teacher, wrote a poem and dedicated the latter years of her life to spreading the red poppy as a symbol of remembrance. Wrote Michael:

“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.”

Monday is Memorial Day. Remember the more than 1 million Americans who have died in conflicts since the American Revolution.