Poppy Days in Maplewood This Weekend

I am proud that our city of Maplewood has Members of Auxiliary Post 103 will be selling poppies at , , and . The red poppy is a symbol of the sacrifice of lives in the wars. Many people don't know the story of how that came about.

In 1914 and 1915, during WWI, many battles were fought on the fields of northern France and Flanders. Many beautiful red poppies grew, in abundance, on those fields that year. An exhausted physician named Lt. Col. John McCrae looked out over all the beautiful red poppies and was inspired to write the famous poem, "In Flander's Fields." It became immediately popular and forever linked the image of the red poppy to the memory of WWI. It was adopted by England and Canada as a symbol of rememberance of WWI and a means of raising funds for disabled veterans.

In 1918, a woman in New York, Miss Moina Michael, was inspired to buy all the poppies at a New York department store. She handed them out as a tribute to the fallen in WWI. She started a campaign that resulted in the adoption of the poppy as the national symbol of sacrifice by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion.

That tradition has carried on to include all the wars that our men and women have fought and sacrificed their lives in to this day. They are made by our veterans, usually at VA hospitals, to honor their fellow comrades. There is no charge for the poppy, but many people do donate something, when they receive their poppy. Any of the funds collected, go back to the veterans themselves.

In Flanders Fields
By John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row by row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard among 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 yea break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

Please remember this story and all the men and women who fight for our freedom, when you see the ladies distributing the poppies this weekend.