Why a Red Poppy on Veterans Day?

According to The National WWI Museum and Memorial website, Moina Michael, an American who was working as a YMCA Overseas War secretary in New York, read that John McCrae had died and vowed to always wear a red poppy of Flanders Fields in remembrance.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae served with Canada's First Brigade Artillery as a surgeon at a field hospital in Belgium.

"In Flanders Fields" is written about the sight of the brilliant flowers growing on a bloody World War I battlefield. The Second Battle of Ypres took place in the province of West Flanders, Belgium, where there were many casualties and severe destruction.

After 17 days of battle the heavy artillery had uprooted the soil, causing the dormant poppies to bloom in great numbers across the devastated meadows. Moved by the display of resilience, McCrae penned the poem to honor the sacrifice made by the soldiers who lost their lives there.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place: and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

The website goes on to say that Michael made the first sales of the Flanders Fields Memorial Poppy in Nov. 1918. It was her mission to make the poppy the national memorial symbol and inspire the world to return to peace after the "war to end all wars."

On November 11, 1919 Armistice Day (now Veterans Day) was established because it was the day WWI formally ended.

According to the U.S. Army website, in 1921 the American Legion Auxiliary established the poppy program and in August 1922, the poppy was adopted as the official memorial flower of the Veterans of Foreign Wars at its national convention in Seattle.

In 1923, a shortage of poppies from French manufacturers led to the idea by VFW officials to use unemployed and disabled veterans to produce the artificial flower.

In 1924, the first poppy factory was built in Pittsburgh which gainly employed veterans and guaranteed a reliable source of poppies. Today, veterans at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities and homes help to assemble the poppies and distribute about 14 million worldwide.

This year, the VFW celebrates the 88th anniversary of the poppy as its official flower.

Wearing a poppy is a show of support for the service and sacrifice of our active military, veterans and their families.

You can wear your poppy however you choose. There is no wrong way to wear a poppy. Just make sure to wear your poppy with pride.

The D. Merl Tipton VFW will be selling poppies from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Nov. 11 at the C&S Grocery Store, Martinsburg location. Please wear a mask.

The money raised from this event goes to local veteran groups' activities funds.