New Haven’s Poppy Days Will Be May 13 And May 14

American Legion Auxiliary Unit 366, New Haven, has designated Thursday, May 13 and Friday, May 14 as Poppy Days. Members of the Auxiliary,  American Legion Post 366 and the Sons of the American Legion will be greeting you with a smile, poppies,  contribution containers and a big helping of gratitude at Caseys, Save-A-Lot and Seitters Market. If you cannot visit with us on these days but would like to help our veterans and military personnel, you can send your donation/contribution to:

American Legion Auxiliary Unit 366,Poppy Fund - Attn: Ruth Peirick, 9494 Highway 100, New Haven MO 63068 to continue to meet the needs of our veterans & military men and women, which should be the concern of every American who values their freedom. The poppy is a symbol of the sacrifice our military men and  women have made.

During WW1, much of the fighting took place in Western Europe. The Belgium Flanders, the northernmost point of the western front, became one of the most devastated regions in the battlefield, a place where the war turned the beautiful countryside into a field of mud where nothing could grow.

In the spring of 1915, Lt. Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian Doctor and Poet, who had recently lost a friend and fellow Lt. in the war, witnessed the sight of bright red poppies flourishing in an unlikely place - a broken ground, a once-ravaged battlefield. This inspired him to write a poem originally titled “We Shall Not Sleep.” Later re-titled “In Flanders Fields,” McCrae channeled the voice of the fallen soldiers buried under those hardy poppies.

This poem became famous and moved the heart of Moina Michael, an American Professor, who wrote her own poem in 1918, titled “We Shall Keep the Faith.” She campaigned to make the poppy the internationally recognized symbol of remembrance and welfare for veterans. She made and sold red poppies to raise funds for veterans returning from WWI and became known as the Poppy Lady.

A Frenchwoman, Anna Guerin, who had championed the symbolic power of the red poppy from the beginning, ordered poppies from Moina Michael and continued to raise funds for the veterans. Soon after, she was invited to the American Legion Convention to speak about the idea for an “Inter Allied Poppy Day.”  Madam Guerin helped convince the American Legion to adopt the poppy as their symbol and to join her by celebrating National Poppy Day in the United States the following May. It is believed that Madam Guerin’s work may have been the single most significant figure in spreading the Symbol of the Remembrance Poppy. On September 27, 1920, the poppy became the official flower of the American Legion Family to memorialize the soldiers who fought and died during the war. In 1924, the distribution of poppies became the National Program of the American Legion.