Memorial Day Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. What name was commonly used for the observance that developed into Memorial Day?
Muster Day
Armistice Day
Remembrance Sunday
Decoration Day
2. A school calendar describes Armed Forces Day as another military observance. Whom does Armed Forces Day principally honor?
People currently serving in the U.S. armed forces
Military personnel who died while serving
All people who previously completed military service
Civilian workers employed by the Department of Defense
3. An event program currently thanks everyone who has ever served in the U.S. military. Which change would align it more closely with Memorial Day?
Limit recognition to people currently on active duty
Center remembrance on those who died while serving in the military
Celebrate veterans who recently completed their service
Focus on the creation and history of each military branch
4. Which activity most closely reflects the central practice described in the 1868 order establishing Decoration Day?
Reading the Declaration of Independence at a courthouse
Holding a formal review of active-duty troops
Collecting supplies for soldiers stationed overseas
Placing flowers on the graves of those who died in military service
5. A community parade ends shortly before 3 p.m. on Memorial Day. Which addition best connects the event with a nationally recognized remembrance custom?
Ring bells at noon to mark the start of summer
Invite attendees to pause at 3 p.m. local time for the National Moment of Remembrance
Read the names of all living veterans in the community
Raise the flag from half-staff for the first time at 3 p.m.
6. A speaker says Memorial Day primarily celebrates all living military veterans. Which correction is most accurate?
It primarily honors active-duty service members rather than veterans
It primarily commemorates the signing of major peace treaties
It honors military personnel who died while serving; Veterans Day honors all U.S. veterans
It honors only veterans who served during wartime
7. At which site does a major national Memorial Day ceremony traditionally include a wreath-laying by the president or a designee?
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery
The Liberty Bell at Independence National Historical Park
The USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor
The National Archives Rotunda in Washington, D.C.
8. When is Memorial Day observed under current federal law?
The last Monday in May
May 30 every year
The final Sunday in May
The first Monday in June
9. What change resulted from applying the Uniform Monday Holiday Act to Memorial Day?
The observance moved from November to May
The observance moved from May 30 to the last Monday in May
The holiday became limited to federal employees
The National Moment of Remembrance was moved to noon
10. A building follows the special Memorial Day protocol for displaying the U.S. flag. What should happen?
The flag remains at half-staff from sunrise to sunset
The flag remains at full-staff until noon and is then lowered
The flag is displayed at half-staff until noon and then raised to full-staff
The flag is displayed at half-staff only during the 3 p.m. remembrance
11. What is the central purpose of Memorial Day in the United States?
To honor U.S. military personnel who died while serving
To recognize everyone who has completed military service
To celebrate the founding of the U.S. armed forces
To thank people currently serving in the military
12. Who wrote the World War I poem “In Flanders Fields,” which helped make the red poppy a symbol of remembrance?
John Philip Sousa
Walt Whitman
John McCrae
Joyce Kilmer
13. At Arlington’s 1868 Decoration Day observance, flowers were placed on both Union and Confederate graves. What does that detail establish about the event?
It was held before the Civil War had ended
It honored only unidentified service members
It combined Memorial Day with the anniversary of a peace treaty
Its grave-decoration included military dead from both sides of the Civil War
14. Which conflict most directly led to the national Decoration Day observance announced in 1868?
The Revolutionary War
The Civil War
World War I
The Spanish-American War
15. After reading “In Flanders Fields,” what remembrance practice did Moina Michael notably promote in the United States?
Placing evergreen wreaths on every military grave
Observing two minutes of silence at sunrise
Flying blue-star flags outside public buildings
Wearing red poppies to remember the dead and support veterans
16. A town wants to participate in the National Moment of Remembrance on Memorial Day. At what local time should it invite people to pause?
11 a.m.
Noon
3 p.m.
Sunset