Posted by Saul Leibowitz on 5/24/13 9:51pm
Msg #471209

Memorial Day Holiday

I wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday. Please remember the veterans, dead and alive, who made our freedoms and the holiday possible. Does anyone else out there besides Hugh and I remember when it was called Decoration Day?

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 5/24/13 10:07pm
Msg #471211

I remember.. n/m

Reply by supersigner on 5/24/13 10:37pm
Msg #471214

I remember Decoration Day. I also remember the vets selling poppies which I have not seen at all this year.

Reply by BrendaTx on 5/24/13 10:46pm
Msg #471216

I remember the poppies...the fabric ones...I always put them in my mouth and got in trouble for it as a child. (No one yells at me now...they just give me a wide berth.)

Do not remembe hearing it called Decoration Day.

Reply by John Tennant on 5/24/13 11:05pm
Msg #471217

I remember Decoration Day, the poppies, and the parades after WWII.

Reply by GOLDGIRL/CA on 5/24/13 11:39pm
Msg #471223

Loved it when my dad (WWII vet) brought home VFW poppies

Unlike Brenda, I didn't try to eat them! but would try to wrap the stems around buttons:

From the VFW Web site:

The VFW conducted its first poppy distribution before Memorial Day in 1922, becoming the first veterans' organization to organize a nationwide distribution. The poppy soon was adopted as the official memorial flower of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States.

It was during the 1923 encampment that the VFW decided that VFW Buddy Poppies be assembled by disabled and needy veterans who would be paid for their work to provide them with some form of financial assistance. The plan was formally adopted during the VFW's 1923 encampment. The next year, disabled veterans at the Buddy Poppy factory in Pittsburgh assembled VFW Buddy Poppies. The designation "Buddy Poppy" was adopted at that time.

In February 1924, the VFW registered the name "Buddy Poppy" with the U.S. Patent Office. A certificate was issued on May 20, 1924, granting the VFW all trademark rights in the name of Buddy under the classification of artificial flowers. The VFW has made that trademark a guarantee that all poppies bearing that name and the VFW label are genuine products of the work of disabled and needy veterans. No other organization, firm or individual can legally use the name "Buddy" Poppy.

Today, VFW Buddy Poppies are still assembled by disabled and needy veterans in VA Hospitals.

The minimal assessment (cost of Buddy Poppies) to VFW units provides compensation to the veterans who assemble the poppies, provides financial assistance in maintaining state and national veterans' rehabilitation and service programs and partially supports the VFW National Home for orphans and widows of our nation's veterans.

Reply by BrotherOwner on 5/25/13 1:28am
Msg #471228

Re: Thank you GG..........

interesting info I wouln't have taken the time to learn W/O you. As an aside, I ALWAYS take a moment to recognize and thank a Veteran when I'm doing a signing. I might not be here w/o them. I also thank police, fire, nurses,and teachers for the work they do for all of us.

Reply by anotaryinva on 5/25/13 4:31am
Msg #471231

Re: Thank you GG..........

I don't remember it being called Decoration Day but I remember relatives telling me that my great grandfather died on Armistice Day. Never knew exactly what that meant, but thanks to google I do now -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_Day

Reply by GOLDGIRL/CA on 5/25/13 12:49pm
Msg #471253

Armistice Day ...

... is another one of those where the name got changed ... to Veterans Day .... then somewhere along the line it became just another Monday holiday ... so then people protested so it went back to Nov. 11 and then there was another protest and now I don't know what's going on!

Coincidentally, Nov. 11 is a Monday this year.

Reply by 101livescan on 5/25/13 8:49am
Msg #471236

Re: Loved it when my dad (WWII vet) brought home VFW poppies

I remember the Red Poppies! Wow, too bad traditions like this one have fallen by the wayside. I have my father's American Flag that he dutifully hoisted and lowered every day in his front yard in Ocala, FL, hanging from my barn. It's a constant reminder to me of him, his 30 years of service in the US Navy, and his patriotism. When he was 78, he came to CA to visit me. I had just become a NSA. He rode shotgun. Everyone invited him in and to come back. He had the greatest stories about New Caledonia and Pearl Harbor when the Japanese bombed the hell out of our submarines and shipyard. He had all his pins from every reunion he attended for the USS Chicago and USS Arizona.

My Dad knew the serviceman who kissed the nurse in NY on DDay. They served together.

I salute all our men and women who have served our country, past and present, so that we could be free!

Reply by Susan Fischer on 5/25/13 9:14pm
Msg #471301

My dad WWII Vet (USN, USS Reybold, then USS Guam,

[as the youngest Radio Chief (19) in the Navy by then] in The Naval Battle of Okinawa). I'm hoping to take him on a nautical day-trip up around Astoria this summer. He'll be 90 next January, bless him, and I hope to get a lot more of his oral history recorded. Like with your Dad, early in my business, I took him on several signings with the same amazing and fascinating - and oh, so rewarding experiences. There are Veterans in our area with spell-binding museums - one built his over an enormous garage. Incredible signing that was, bringing two old Sailors in the neighborhood together.

We join you in saluting our Fallen this Memorial Day, and wish fair winds and following seas to all.

Reply by jnew on 5/25/13 10:14am
Msg #471239

Remembering my friend Wayne from 1968. Forever 19. ( and my dad and 2 uncles from WW2)

Reply by GOLDGIRL/CA on 5/25/13 12:57pm
Msg #471257

Thank you, jnew

Somehow Vietnam keeps getting swept under the rug. Tragic. There are still grieving brothers, sisters, spouses, children (and many parents still alive) of the 60,000 killed there. My heart goes out to you and his family.

Reply by Philip Johnson on 5/25/13 12:39pm
Msg #471251

A fellow compatriot of mine killed 10 years ago in Iraq

http://apps.washingtonpost.com/national/fallen/1280/randall-rehn/

Saddest parts of it, he was killed by an errant US Air Force strike and he had a child born 2 months after his death who will never know her father.

Reply by Mia on 5/25/13 4:46pm
Msg #471280

'National Moment of Remembrance'

An important Memorial Day tradition is observing one minute of silence at 3:00 p.m. throughout America known as 'National Moment of Remembrance' remembering the war dead.

('National Moment of Remembrance' to remind and especially, let the future generations know about the real meaning of the holiday. The idea clicked with the President and Congress and since 1997, it became a standard American tradition. National Moment of Remembrance requires everybody to keep silent for a minute, exactly at 3.00 pm (local time) when 'Taps' is played and reflect on the glory of those who have shed blood for us).






..

Reply by Sandra G Holland on 5/25/13 8:05pm
Msg #471299

Re: 'National Moment of Remembrance'

I dislike it when people say, "Happy Memorial Day!" I didn't know anyone who died in warfare, but I always get a poppy when I find them. I attach them to the dashboard of my car, for lack of a better place to put them, and I can then see them frequently. I, too, am a veteran. I also dislike it when people honor "all" veterans on Memorial Day, but I do go to those free meals. All veterans may be honored on Veterans Day.