Full Frontal PR Report
Scott J. Milne

Have you seen that bit on the Tonight Show where Jay Leno goes out into the streets of Burbank and asks someone walking down the street “What is Watergate?” and he gets a ridiculous response like “It’s a new water-theme park in the next town!” We all laugh, roll our eyes, muttering how anyone could be that dumb.

You’d be surprised how little the average American knows or remembers about his or her own history. I was.

See, next week is Memorial Day. Did you know? Of course you knew; because you—like most Americans—have the day off.

What’s the first thing comes to mind when you think of Memorial Day? Summer is here? The first barbecue of the season? A sale at your favorite store? A day to sleep in? Unfortunately, that’s all most of us think about when Memorial Day is on.

This day means much more. Don’t roll your eyes or skip over to the next article—read, learn and remember…

When I think of Memorial Day I think of the parade in my hometown when I was a boy. I remember Veterans at the supermarket or the library selling red poppies for people’s lapels, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts placing American flags on the graves at military cemeteries, and politicians kissing babies or giving heartfelt speeches.

Mostly I remember the brave men and women of the Armed Services and those civilians who gave the ultimate sacrifice: a life for their country.

That’s what Memorial Day is about.

Can you still have the barbecue Monday? Sure—please do. But why not start a tradition alongside the burgers. At 3 PM observe a moment of silence for those men and women who are no longer here to share the sauce or sales. Why 3 PM? I’ll get to that.

For those of you who have forgotten, or maybe just didn’t know, here are the facts about Memorial Day:

• At first it was called “Decoration Day.”
• Memorial Day was officially made a National Holiday on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, then the national commander of Grand Army of the Republic, who proclaimed that on May 30, 1868 flowers were to be placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.
• The first state to legally recognize the holiday was New York in 1873.
• By 1890 it was recognized all the Northern states. Alas, the South refused to acknowledge it since they honored their dead on a separate holiday until after World War I. That’s when our government changed Memorial Day from honoring only from the Civil War to honoring everyone who died during an American War.
• In 1915, Monica Michael wrote “In Flanders Field,” the poem that inspired the tradition of wearing poppies on Memorial Day: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.
• And in 1922 the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) became the first veteran’s group to sell poppies for Memorial Day. The money went to uphold local chapters, and still does.

Okay, now back to 3 PM. I have to admit that even though I am a Veteran, until I started to do some research I didn’t know why 3 PM was the designated moment for silence. In December 2000 a “National Moment of Remembrance” was passed by legislators to help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of this “bank holiday,” namely Memorial Day.

The moment comes with a proclamation: “To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to ‘Taps.”

Some who know me will say yeah that’s easy for you to make note of all this because you are retired from the US Air Force—I had to know those things. Maybe so. You don’t, however, have to be in the military to appreciate what Memorial Day is; you have to be an American who gives a damn.

Check your TV listings for time when President Bush lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider this Monday. Make it a family television affair, same as when you watch the State of the Union. Or better yet, plan a trip to Washington DC and visit the Memorial in person! It’s very moving—to everyone who attends—standing in front of the Vietnam Memorial, or stopping by Arlington National Cemetery and watching the Changing of Guard and witnessing President Kennedy’s gravesite. I can attest that it is something you will never forget.

And the next time you spot those Veterans at the market don’t just walk by. Talk to them. Say hi, tell them you remember, and throw a buck in their cup now that you know why they’re there. Take a poppy and wear it proudly. And when chomping on a hot dog at 3 PM give the heroes of our Wars a due moment of quiet.

Because even though the banks are closed and our workday has disappeared, the one sure fact about Memorial Day is that it’s about remembering.

Scott J. Milne is the Executive Assistant to RLM PR’s CEO. US Air Force Veteran Milne is proud to have served his country.