On this Memorial Day 2021, we pay tribute to our Fallen Soldiers.

This remembrance started on May 5, 1868, when Gen. John Logan, C-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (a Union military fraternal assn. from Illinois) ordered flower decorations fixed on soldiers' graves. Every last Monday of May, Americans pause to remember US heroes who gave their lives in harms way for a free and secure America. The poppy is worn as the official Memorial Day flower. In the first half of the XX c., our Polish/American Chicago community observed this special day with parades that culminated at the Tadeusz Kosciuszko monument in Humboldt Park. Today, Chicago honors its gold star families with a moving solemn wreath-laying ceremony, a 21 gun salute to our fallen soldiers, a yellow rose, and a grand Downtown State street parade featuring marching ROTC Cadets, bands, and military vehicles. Our Polish Museum of America is grateful to All United States Military men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice of their lives protecting America's Freedom!

B. Czerkawski

Photos depict PMA Archives photo of US. soldiers at the grave of their brother in arms-Lt. Graves in Lwow, 1921, Memorial Day May 30, 1915, with I.J. Paderewski at Humboldt Park in Chicago, Memorial Day 1916 Chicago, M. Day parade June 1918 on Division in Chicago.