Celebrating Memorial Day 2020

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As we head into the weekend to celebrate a very unusual Memorial Day, I hope that we don't lose sight of this holiday's very important purpose.

Without the parades and ceremonies, it certainly won't be the same. But the reality is, that even in times of uncertainty, we can still honor and salute the men and women who have died fighting for our country and defending democracy and liberty throughout the world.

I am grateful for our soldiers who have given their lives so that we can continue to live in the greatest country in the world. And, I truly believe that we ARE the greatest country in the world.

Have a Happy and Blessed Memorial Day.

Lisa

Memorial Day - Did You Know

Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration day, originally honored only those lost while fighting in the Civil War. We now commemorate all American military personnel who died in wars and conflicts, including World War II , The Vietnam War , The Korean War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Did you know:

The Civil War, which ended in the spring of 1865, claimed more lives than any conflict in US history and required the establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries.
Some records show that one of the earliest Memorial Day commemoration events was organized by a group of freed slaves in Charleston, South Carolina, less than a month after the Confederacy surrendered in 1865.
Waterloo, NY first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866 and went on to host the annual community-wide event, during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.
In 1966, the US government declared Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day.
It became an official federal holiday five years later in 1971.
Each year on Memorial Day a national moment of remembrance takes place at 3:00 p.m. local time.

The Symbolism of the Red Poppy

The Remembrance Day symbolism of the poppy started with a poem "In Flanders Fields", written by a World War I brigade surgeon who was struck by the sight of the red flowers growing on a ravaged battlefield. The poem talks about poppies bringing life back to a battlefield destroyed by the war.

From 1914 to 1918, World War I took a greater human toll than any previous conflict, with some 8.5 million soldiers dead of battlefield injuries or disease. The Great War, as it was then known, also ravaged the landscape of Western Europe, where most of the fiercest fighting took place. From the devastated landscape of the battlefields, the red poppy would grow and, thanks to a famous poem, become a powerful symbol of remembrance.

To learn more about the Poppy, Memorial Day, the Poppy Wall Project, CLICK HERE.

To write a memory on the virtual poppy wall, CLICK HERE.

Prayers for Midland

Please keep Midland and the surrounding areas, that have been devastated by the floods, in your prayers.