Memorial Day

Memorial Day is the perfect time to honor the fallen with a cockade!

Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, is an American holiday that started after the Civil War. Though stories conflict as to where it originally began, most sources agree that memorial days were being observed in the South before the war even ended.

The first call for a nationwide Decoration Day was by General Logan of the GAR. The original date commemorated for many years was May 30, chosen because it was not the anniversary of any particular battle. It was also a time when many flowers would be blooming for decorating graves. Congress moved the date in 1968 to the last Monday in May in order to create a three-day weekend holiday.

Through the 1800s, the day was used to honor those who died in the Civil War. Families of the deceased placed flowers on the graves of the departed, and worked to clean up the cemeteries from the year's accumulation of weeds and debris.

As the years wore on, America sent her men out to fight again. The Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II all took their toll on the heroes of the United States. Therefore, the Memorial Day commemoration came to be extended to the fallen veterans of all wars.

Cockades and badges were often worn for Memorial Day, highlighting the fallen and honoring their patriotism.

During World War I, Moina Michael wrote a poem that gained international fame. It stated in part:

We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.

Thus was born an international tradition of wearing red poppies to honor the war dead.

World War II is the last time I've found that Americans in large numbers wore cockades. I have in my collection several hand-sewn red, white and blue cockades that were evidently to be used for patriotic events in the 1940s.

Interestingly, I've found that World War II was also the era when we changed to metal or plastic buttons instead of ribbon cockades. Textiles were rationed in America during the war, so ribbon for cockades was limited. That's why I also have some other 1940s cockades in my collection - these are made of celluloid!

Whatever you choose to wear this year to honor our fallen heroes, I hope you will take the time to be thankful for those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for us. We owe them our freedom.

Have a Blessed Memorial Day!

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Thanks for reading... see you next week!

Regards,
~Heather Sheen