50+ Best Memorial Day Trivia Trivia Questions & Answers

Question: Memorial Day was first recognized on what date?

Answer: May 30, 1868

Question: When was Memorial Day named as such by the federal government?

Answer: 1967

Question: Memorial Day was originally known as what?

Answer: Decoration Day

Question: What city is known as the birthplace of Memorial Day?

Answer: Waterloo, New York

Question: Which president signed the National Moment of Remembrance Act?

Answer: Bill Clinton

Question: Memorial Day originally honored soldiers who died in which war?

Answer: U.S. Civil War

Question: What flower is traditionally worn as a remembrance of those who have died in war?

Answer: Poppies

Question: Who is generally considered the founder of Memorial Day?

Answer: John A. Logan

Question: What was the first state to make Memorial Day an official holiday?

Answer: Michigan

Question: Where is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier located?

Answer: Virginia

Question: How old was the youngest U.S. serviceman in World War II?

Answer: 12 years old

Question: What famous monument was dedicated on Memorial Day?

Answer: Lincoln Memorial

Question: What city hosts the oldest Memorial Day parade?

Answer: Doylestown, PA

Question: Which event traditionally takes place on Memorial Day weekend?

Answer: Indianapolis 500

Question: Arlington National Cemetery used to be a plantation belonging to whom?

Answer: Robert E. Lee

Question: When was the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery

Answer: Nov. 11, 1921

Question: What is the top Memorial Day weekend destination?

Answer: Orlando, FL

Question: When did Washington D.C. hold its first Memorial Day parade?

Answer: 2004

Question: Which are the two most important items people wield to remember soldiers?

Answer: Flowers & Flags

Question: Many Americans treat Memorial Day as the onset of which season?

Answer: Summer

Question: Memorial Day weekend has been known as being the most hazardous holiday. Which incident caused it to be known as very risky?

Answer: Car Accidents

Question: Which southern state first commemorated the federal holiday of Memorial Day?

Answer: Mississippi

Question: What organization called for adorning the shrines of fallen soldiers on 30 May, 1868?

Answer: Republic Civil War Veterans' Organization

Question: Which woman served as a battlefield nurse during the Civil War, achieving the epithet 'Angel of the Battlefield', and established the American Red Cross in 1881?

Answer: Clara Barton

Question: What is the name of the largest national cemetery?

Answer: Calverton National Cemetery, New York

Question: There is something unusual at the Arlington national cemetery. What is it?

Answer: The Tomb of the Unknown

Question: Which year did the Civil War end?

Answer: 1865

Question: What poem inspired the tradition of wearing and planting poppy blossoms for Memorial Day?

Answer: "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae

Question: The National Moment of Remembrance takes place at what time each Memorial Day?

Answer: 3 p.m. local time

Question: What bugle call is played at all military funerals and memorial services?

Answer: Taps

Question: How many fallen soldiers were honored at the first Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery?

Answer: 20,000

Question: Which senator and World War II veteran fought to return Memorial Day to May 30 until his death in 2012?

Answer: Senator Daniel Inouye

Question: The ancient Greeks marked one of the earliest displays of honoring fallen soldiers in which war?

Answer: The Peloponnesian War

Question: When there was a shortage of natural poppies in 1924, which city was the first to manufacture artificial poppies?

Answer: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Question: Who started the tradition of wearing red poppies on Memorial Day?

Answer: Moina Michael

Question: What percentage of people travel by car on Memorial Day weekend?

Answer: 88%

Question: What rise in percentage is the automobile-related casualties over Memorial Day weekend?

Answer: 12%

Question: How many hot dogs do Americans eat between Memorial Day and Labor Day?

Answer: 7 Billion

Question: What organization is accountable for the Buddy Poppy program, which funds U.S. veterans and families?

Answer: Veterans Of Foreign Wars.

Question: How many American men and women have died in all battles the U.S. has been involved?

Answer: 1.1 million

Question: The first Memorial Day speeches often emphasized what principle?

Answer: Sectional Reconciliation

Question: Which memorial to the fallen was the first to be inaugurated on Washington D.C. National Mall?

Answer: Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Question: What organization called for adorning the shrines of fallen soldiers on 30 May, 1868?

Answer: Republic Civil War Veterans' Organization

Question: The annual biker rally in Washington, D.C. each Memorial Day is called what?

Answer: The Rolling Thunder Run

Question: Which organization first promoted a national holiday for decorating the graves of fallen soldiers?

Answer: Grand Army of the Republic

Question: For how many years has Memorial Day been reserved for cherishing the lives of Civil War soldiers only?

Answer: 100 years

Question: The quote, 'I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity', is from which former soldier who became a U.S. president.

Answer: Dwight Eisenhower

Question: How many total Americans died in the Civil War?

Answer: About 620,000

Question: When there was a shortage of natural poppies in 1924, which city was the first to manufacture artificial poppies?

Answer: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Question: The Rolling Thunder Run is aimed at raising awareness of what?

Answer: Prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action