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Memorial Day weekend is a special time for all Americans. It’s represents a time to look ahead, into the coming summer, but also a time to reflect on the past. Perhaps more than anything, it’s a time to be thankful.

Every last Monday in May we remember and celebrate the lives of servicemen and women who have fallen in the line of duty. Originally known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day has been a tradition since near the end of the Civil War though the day didn’t achieve the status of federal holiday until 1971. The exact origins of the day and where it was first celebrated are unclear but Waterloo, New York was officially declared the birthplace of the day by Lyndon Johnson in 1966. It wasn’t until World War I that the holiday evolved into commemorating troops lost not only in the Civil War, but across all armed conflicts the United States has been a part of.

A popular symbol of Memorial Day, the red poppy, was inspired by a poem entitled “We Shall Keep the Faith” by Moina Michael:

Oh! You who sleep in Flanders fields,
Sleep sweet – to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died

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,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders field

And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We’ll teach the lesson that you wrought

Moina Michael was the first to wear the red poppy. One thing led to another and soon enough they were mass produced and became a universal symbol of remembering fallen soldiers.

Memorial Day weekend also signals the official start of summer vacation. Summer brings images of waves rolling over sizzling sand, ice cream dripping timidly down the side of a cone onto the sidewalk, and smoke rising from charcoal that’s busy cooking food for the family barbeque.

Memorial Day is a time to enjoy what our freedom affords us. So go to the beach, spend time with family and enjoy yourself. Most of all enjoy the sweet gift of having Monday off work.

Pump Products would like to salute all those who have served our country and preserved the freedom and liberty that we enjoy every day.

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