Top 10 Memorial Day Facts

May 23, 2018

On May 28, 2018 our country will celebrate the Memorial Day holiday. Many people will enjoy the three-day weekend and unofficial start of summer. It’s important to remember why Memorial Day is a national holiday, as we honor and remember members of the military who have died in defense of our nation.

Memorial Day is much more than a long weekend. It’s an opportunity for all citizens to pay tribute to those who have sacrificed their lives and reflect on the freedoms they have defended.

Top 10 Memorial Day Facts

Here are some interesting facts about Memorial Day and how the holiday came to be.

1. Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day. The tradition of decorating the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers began during the Civil War. The first official observances of Decoration Day began shortly after the end of the Civil War.
2. Decoration Day observances were held on different days in the North and South after the Civil War. Northern states held it on May 30, and Southern states held it on various dates from April to June.
3. Poppies are the official flower of Memorial Day. This came about from the poem, “In Flanders Fields”, and its lines about poppy fields growing amongst soldiers graves after the World War I battle of  Ypres in April and May of 1915. At the time of the battle, the United States was still neutral, and would not enter the war until April 1917.
4. The American Legion adopted the Poppy as their official symbol of remembrance in 1920.
5. The name Memorial Day was first used in 1882 but did not become commonly used until after World War II.
6. In 1967 the official name of the holiday was declared as Memorial Day.
7. Memorial Day was originally observed on May 30th of each year. In 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which included designating the last Monday of May as Memorial Day. This law took effect in 1971.
8. On Memorial Day, flags in the United States are raised to the top of the flagpole, then lowered to half-staff. At 12:00 the flags are then raised back to full-staff.
9. Some of the modern events occurring during the Memorial Day weekend include the Indianapolis 500, the Coca-Cola 600 stock car race, and the National Memorial Day Concert on the lawn of the US Capital.
10. Since the birth of our nation in 1775, there have been over 660,000 combat deaths and more than 673,000 non-combat deaths of people serving in the United States armed forces.

A Memorial Day Thank You

Everyone at Scale Funding honors and respects the sacrifices made by those who lost their lives in service to our country. We hope everyone takes a moment on Monday to reflect on the freedoms we enjoy and remember those who made them possible.