MEMORIAL POPPY TREE
The month of May is Poppy month and is also the time when we remember those men and women who gave their lives to keep our country free.
The Poppy has a long history of providing for the needs of our Veterans. In the months of combat of World War I, men of all nations who engaged in the conflict noticed and symbolized the Poppy, because in the midst of the horrors and death of war the Poppy of the fields of France and Flanders grew wild with a freshness and strength untouched by the strife surrounding it. Poppies grew abundantly in the fields and cemeteries of Verdan and Chateau Thierry and were used on the graves of men of all nations. With the picture of the white crosses in the fields of Poppies, Colonel John McCrae visualized his poem, the immortal “In Flanders’ Fields”
So a symbol was born to be used later in New York City on November 9, 1918 when Miss Monina Michael of Athens, Georgia distributed the Poppies to men attending the 25th convention of the YMCA.
On September 29, 1920, at the National Convention of the American Legion the Poppy was proclaimed the memorial flower of the American Legion. From that time on a crepe paper Poppy was made by disabled veterans and these were taken by members of the American Legion and Auxiliary and distributed in communities across the nation to anyone who gave a donation for the flower. There is no set price for the Poppy and the funds received are used to help veterans and the veterans who make the Poppies are paid for doing so.
The Poppies are also used to decorate graves, make wreaths and as is seen here to decorate this Memorial Poppy Tree.
REMEMBER YOU ARE HELPING OUR V ETERANS WHEN YOU MAKE A DONATION FOR A POPPY
Sponsored by American Legion Auxiliary
Unit #224
