Memorial Day 2010

Today is Memorial Day and there will be flags flying, hot dogs grilling and chicken frying, parades and brass bands. Formerly this day was known as Decoration Day and relatives and friends of those who died in the Civil War to World War I would gather at cemeteries to honor those who had given their lives in the service of their country. In November we honor those who served their country with military service. On the last Monday in May we honor those who gave their lives in service to their country. Don't overlook the women who served their country from the Civil War to the present. They served and died in service to their country. She Served Too. There were civilian volunteers in Vietnam and one was a woman I tried to get information about, but nothing yet, is Eleanor Ardel Vietti. She was taken prisoner on May 30, 1962 while at a leprosarium near the South Vietnamese mountain town of Banmethuot where she was a physician.

A national moment of remembrance takes place at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day. Another tradition is to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff from dawn until noon local time. Volunteers often place American flags on each grave site at National Cemeteries.

The rules for flying the flag of the United States of America are listed on this website:Flag Code. If you don't know or aren't sure please check the Betsy Ross website. The code and rules for flying our flag and every contingency that might ever arise is covered there. After September 11, 2001 we put up our flag...and it just didn't look quite right. That is when I found the Betsy Ross website. It is a mission of mine to help others not make mistakes with the symbol of our country.
Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars take donations for poppies in the days leading up to Memorial Day; the poppy's significance to Memorial Day is the result of the John McCrae poem "In Flanders Fields." gatherings, and sporting events.
Source-Wikipedia

The poem In Flanders Field was written by John McCrae, a Canadian doctor, soldier and poet.

In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

~John McCrae, 1915

During World War I, John McCrae was tending the wounded and dying in the trenches at the Second Battle of Ypres in the Flanders area of Belgium as the Canadians held their ground against chlorine gas attacks. When a close friend was killed and buried in a quick grave marked with a plain wooden cross, John McCrae wrote In Flanders Fields.

Source:Canadaonline

God Bless Our Soldiers in harm's way today and forever.