Decoration Day or Memorial Day

 

Only have one Great Uncle who served in European theater in WWI. That was William Bill Fermazin. Don't know too much about his service.

War poetry
Poppies stand as a prominent feature of In Flanders Fields, one of the most frequently quoted English-language poems composed by front-line personnel during the First World War. It was written by John McCrae, a doctor serving in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, and appeared for the first time in Punch magazine on December 8, 1915.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

- John McCrae

I remember the poppies being given out at church.
Many of the states of the U.S. South refused to celebrate Decoration Day, due to lingering hostility towards the Union Army and also because there were relatively few veterans of the Union Army who were buried in the South. A notable exception was Columbus, Mississippi, which on April 25, 1866, at its Decoration Day commemorated both the Union and Confederate casualties buried in its cemetery.[4]


Flags flying at Fort Logan National Cemetery during Memorial Day, 2006
The alternative name of "Memorial Day" was first used in 1882. It did not become more common until after World War II, and was not declared the official name by Federal law until 1967. On June 28, 1968, the United States Congress passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, which moved three holidays from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient three-day weekend. The holidays included Washington's Birthday, now celebrated as Presidents' Day; Veterans Day and Memorial Day. The change moved Memorial Day from its traditional May 30 date to the last Monday in May. The law took effect at the federal level in 1971.
After some initial confusion and unwillingness to comply, all 50 states adopted the measure within a few years. In 1978, Veterans Day was changed back to its traditional date on November 11. Most corporate businesses no longer close on Veterans Day, Columbus Day or President's Day, with the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and/or New Year's Eve often substituted as more convenient "holidays" for their employees. Memorial Day endures as a holiday which most businesses observe because it marks the beginning of the "summer vacation season." This role is filled in neighboring Canada by Victoria Day, which occurs either on May 24 or the last Monday before that date, placing it exactly one week

Here is the story significance of the Poppy below:
During World War I corn poppies bloomed in waste grounds of much of the Western front, where they provided a vivid reminder of the bloody battles that had so recently taken place there. The corn poppy is immortalized in the poem In Flanders Fields by Canadian poet John McCrae. Similarly, it is a symbol of the blood of Polish soldiers killed in the Battle of Monte Cassino in the Polish war song Czerwone maki na Monte Cassino (Red Poppies on Monte Cassino).
The corn poppy has become a cultural icon to military veterans, especially veterans of World War I, and has become associated with wartime remembrance, especially during Remembrance Day or Anzac Day in Commonwealth countries. In Canada, where the corn poppy is largely associated with Remembrance Day, the Canadian Mint in 2004 released into circulation a quarter with a commemorative reversefeaturing a corn poppy colored red.
This poppy is a common weed in Europe and is found in many locations, including Flanders Fields. Canadian surgeon and soldier, John McCrae wrote the poem In Flanders Fields on May 3, 1915, after witnessing the death of his friend, Lt. Alexis Helmer. The opening line of the poem vividly depicts corn poppies blowing in the wind amongst the many crosses that mark the resting places of fallen soldiers.