Before you commence your Memorial Day celebration with your picnic or barbecue, take a moment to remember the men and women of the military who died while serving our country.
Originally called "Decoration Day", Americans first celebrated Memorial Day on May 5, 1868 when the graves of Union soldiers were adorned with flowers at Arlington National Cemetery. Simmering with bitterness over the Civil War, many Southern states refused to acknowledge Decoration Day. The term "Memorial Day" was not employed until after World War II and was incorporated into federal law in 1967.
Since 1922, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) have assembled and distributed red poppies to commemorate Memorial Day. The VFW registered the name "Buddy Poppy" with the US Patent Office in 1924. Take a moment to acknowledge the veterans selling Buddy Poppies this weekend.
Interestingly, the cable networks aren't running war movies to commemorate Memorial Day. If we ran Comcast, we'd broadcast these movies -- all involving death in service -- to note the holiday:
- Battleground (1949): Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy. William Wellman, director. World War II.
- The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954): William Holden, Grace Kelly, Frederic March, Mickey Rooney. Mark Robson, director. Korean War.
- Courage Under Fire (1996): Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, Lou Diamond Phillips, Matt Damon. Edward Zwick, director. Operation Desert Storm.
- Destination Tokyo (1944): Cary Grant, John Garfield, Alan Hale. Delmar Daves, director. World War II.
- From Here to Eternity (1953): Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Frank Sinatra, Donna Reed. Fred Zimermann, director. World War II.
- Glory (1989): Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Matthew Broderick. Edward Zwick, director. Civil War.
- The Great Escape (1963): Steve McQueen, James Garner, Sir Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson. John Sturges, director. World War II.
- They Were Expendable (1945): John Wayne, Robert Montgomery, Donna Reed, Ward Bond. John Ford, director. World War II.
- Twelve O'Clock High (1949): Gregory Peck, Dean Jagger, Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlowe. Henry King, director. World War II.
The co-creator of thirtysomething places twice on this list. Go figure.
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ReplyDelete@ 志文: It's bad enough that you used the "comments" section for commercial purposes. It's disgraceful that you sullied a posting that hailed the men and women who died serving our country. Shame, shame, shame.
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