Take our 16-Question Memorial Day Quiz and test your knowledge of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of freedom.

(Answer key may be found at the bottom)

1. Which one of the following Revolutionary War heroes is credited with stating, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country”?

a. Patrick Henry
b. Nathaniel Greene
c. Nathan Hale
d. Paul Revere

2. Which of the following conflicts was the costliest in terms of American lives lost?

a. World War II
b. The War of 1812
c. The War of Independence
d. The War Between the States

3. Which one of the following individuals is credited with having established a day to honor those who died in defense of our country?

a. General Dwight D. Eisenhower
b President Abraham Lincoln
c General John A. Logan
d. President George Washington

4. Now known as Memorial Day, what was the day originally called?

a. Decoration Day
b. Patriots Day
c. Service Day
d. Veterans Day

5. The annual observance was established following which one of the following?

a. The War of Independence
b. The War of 1812
c. The War Between the States
d. World War I

6. How many steps in each direction are walked by the sentinels guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery?

a. 13
b. 21
c. 36
d. 50

7. Which of the following is known as “a date which will live in infamy?”

a. Terrorist Attacks of September 11
b. Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor
c. Confederate Attack on Ft. Sumter
d. The Battle of Baltimore

8. Which one of the following is marked as the day that the Allies achieved Victory in Europe and is known as V-E Day?

a. March 6
b. May 8
c. June 6
d. July 14

9. In which one of the following years did Congress pass its first Declaration of War?

a. 1776 
b. 1812
c. 1917
d. 1941

10.  In which one of the following years did Congress establish Memorial Day as a federal holiday?

a. 1971
b. 1947
c. 1918
d. 1868

11. Which of the following came first in the American War for Independence?

a. The Battle of Fort McHenry
b. The Battles of Lexington and Concord     
c. The Battle of Yorktown
d. The Boston Massacre

12. At which one of the following locations did Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrender to U.S. Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865?

a. Vicksburg, MS
b. Antietam, MD
c. Gettysburg, PA
d. Appomattox Court House, VA

13. Which one of the following numbers comes closest to the number of Allied soldiers who were killed or wounded on June 6, 1944 (D-Day)?

a. 1,000
b. 2,500
c. 5,000
d. 9,000

14. The National Moment of Remembrance Act was signed into law by which one of the following U.S. Presidents?

a. Franklin Roosevelt
b. Harry Truman
c. Bill Clinton
d. Ronald Reagan

15. The remains of an Unknown Soldier from which one of the following conflicts are not interred in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery because they have since been identified?

a. World War I
b. World War II
c. Vietnam
d. Korea

16. Which one of the following individuals stated:  “[W]e here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth?”

a. Henry Clay
b. Franklin D. Roosevelt
c. Abraham Lincoln
d. George Washington

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“Here Rests In Honored Glory An American Soldier Known But To God”
—Inscription on the Tomb of the Unknowns, Arlington National Cemetery

Answers:  1(c); 2(d); 3(c); 4(a); 5(c); 6(b); 7(b); 8(b); 9(b); 10(a); 11(d); 12(d); 13(d); 14(c); 15(c); 16(c)