BarryStaff’s Memorial Day Quiz

1. When is Memorial Day Celebrated?
2. What was Memorial Day called originally?
3. What war’s end started Memorial Day (Decoration Day)?
4. Is it only for remembering those who have fallen in battle.
5. Is the Indianapolis 500 always run on Memorial Day?
6. What was the first “Decoration Day?”
7. What was the first “official” Decoration Day?
8. What town has the longest running Memorial Day parade.
9. When did the name change from Decoration Day to Memorial Day?
10. When did the holiday get moved from May 30 to the last Monday in May?

1. On the last Monday of May
2. Decoration Day. A day for putting flowers and flags on veterans’ graves.
3. It was originally a day to commemorate the fallen Union Soldiers but by the 20th century it became a day to remember all who had been killed while serving in the United States military.
4. Originally, that was the idea but by the early 20th century it became a day to remember all departed loved ones but particularly those who had served in the United States Armed Forces.
5. No. The Indy 500 is run on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.
6. The first Decoration Day was observed on May 1, 1865 in Charleston, SC where over 250 Union prisoners of War had been buried at a Confederate prison Camp. Over 10,000 freedmen (freed slaves) knew of the Union dead and gathered to honor them by decorating their unmarked gravesite.
7. In 1868 General John A. Logan, who was in charge of the Union Army, declared that Decoration Day should be observed nationwide. The date was set as May, 30 and was chosen as one of the few days that a battle had not been fought during the Civil War.
8. Ironton, Ohio had their first parade in 1868 and they’ve had one every year since.
9. The name changed in 1967
10. In 1968 an act of Congress called the Uniform Monday Holiday Act moved Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Columbus Day, and Washington’s Birthday to a Monday so that federal workers would get a convenient 3-day weekend. Washington’s birthday is commonly called “Presidents’ Day” now because Lincoln was also born in February and we hate to leave the poor guy out.

On Memorial Day the flag is raised briskly to the top of the staff and then solemnly lowered to the half-staff position, where it remains only until noon. It is then raised to full-staff for the remainder of the day. The half-staff position remembers the more than one million men and women who gave their lives in service of their country. At noon their memory is raised by the living, who resolve not to let their sacrifice be in vain, but to rise up in their stead and continue the fight for liberty and justice for all.