Sodexo Joins in the Memorial Day Remembrance
By Angela Guidroz, Military Sourcing Recruitment Manager

On May 5, 1868, three years after the Civil War ended, the head of the Union veterans organization established Decoration Day, which is now known as our Memorial Day. It was established for the reconciliation and coming together of a nation that was war-torn and mourning their sons and daughters.

In 1915, after viewing row after row of soldiers' graves at Flanders’ battlefield in the northern region of France, World War I Colonel John McCrae wrote the very moving poem, "In Flanders Fields" as a tribute to the fallen. The poem’s first lines led to the poppy becoming a visual image of those who had given their lives in war.

"In Flanders’ Fields the poppies blow,
between the crosses row on row"

Read “In Flanders Fields.”

In 1922, the Veterans of Foreign Wars formally adopted the poppy as its official memorial flower. The poppy today still serves as an eternal remembrance of those who have given their lives in war.

Sodexo is grateful to the service of those veterans who have passed through history and our current employees who are still serving. We remember those who are an eternal part of this great country’s legacy and join in the National Moment of Remembrance on Memorial Day. For more information about our work with the military, click here.