Memorial Day, which commemorates American soldiers who died in war, was first observed on May 30, 1868. The “National Moment of Remembrance,” signed by President Bill Clinton in 2000, encourages a moment of silence or the playing of “Taps” at 3 p.m.
Wearing red poppies to honor the dead came into fashion following the publication in 1915 of “In Flanders Fields” by Moina Michael:
“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.”
Source: www.usmemorialday.org