Bright red poppies covered the field of battle. Beneath the beauty of the flowers lay the ultimate ugliness of war, the bodies of the slain soldiers who died so gallantly. It is the early 1800’s the field is in Belgium and known as Flanders Field.

More than a hundred years later, during World War I, Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae a surgeon in the First Brigade of the Canadian Forces Artillery, is trying to keep up with the casualties from the day. The fighting is once again on Flanders Field.
Among the dead is Lt. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, Canada a fellow soldier. With the carnage of Flanders all around him, McCrae pencils a few words that will live on through the ages. It is called “In Flander’s Field.”

The poem is a tribute to those who have died and the life of the poppies on the field. Eventually those words will lead to a worldwide movement to honor the dead and those who put their life at risk while fighting for their country.

For now they are just words with a special meaning to McCrae and a few others. Three years later, 1918, while he lay dying, he decides to add a few words to this poem, “Tell them this, if ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep.”
In 1918 Moina Belle Michael decided to answer McCrae. Her reply was titled “We Shall Keep the Faith.”

Michael set out to show that the dead will not be forgotten. She decided to use a red poppy as a symbol of remembrance. At the Twenty-Fifth Conference of the Overseas YMCA War Secretaries in 1918, Michael decided to use the $10 she was given in appreciation of her assistance to purchase 25 artificial red poppies and distribute them to the YMCA secretaries.
Thereafter she worked to get the poppy adopted as a national symbol of remembrance.
In the early 1920’s the American Legion and its Auxiliary adopted the poppy as its memorial flower. At the same time they made the decision to use the proceeds of the flower for the sole purpose of aiding veterans and their families.
At the same time Canada and other countries decided to use the poppy as the symbol for remembering those who have sacrificed with their lives.

The poppy continues to be distributed by the American Legion Auxiliary volunteers to coincide with Memorial Day and Veterans Day. All the proceeds from the distribution are invested in local programs for the benefit of veterans and their families.

Each nine-piece poppy is made by veterans for veterans in Auxiliary-sponsored Poppy Shops that supplement physical and psychological therapy needed by hospitalized and disabled veterans. The Auxiliary provides the materials and the volunteers. The veteran makes the poppy and is paid a small amount for each painstakingly-made flower. For some it is his or her only income.

No matter what the cost of maintaining and supplying the Poppy Shops, the memorial poppy is never sold, but given in exchange for a contribution. The Poppy program has been part of Auxiliary programming for more than 70 years. It has been estimated that approximately 25 million Americans wear the poppy to honor America’s war dead and veterans, contributing more than $2 million for rehabilitation and welfare programs.

Today the fields of battle are in Iraq and Afghanistan. The losses are just as tragic and the hope of never being forgotten is the same. One way of honoring the almost 3,500 who have died and over 25,000 have been wounded is by supporting the American Legion Buddy Poppy program.

Locally, American Legion Auxiliary volunteers will distribute the familiar red, handcrafted poppies honoring America’s war dead on May 26 designated as Poppy Day by American Legion Auxiliary 308.