Buddy Poppy

Memorial Day was originally created to honor Union soldiers who’d died while fighting in the Civil War. Because of this, southern states did not observe Memorial Day until after World War I, when the holiday was expanded to include soldiers from all wars.

The red poppy is a traditional symbol of Memorial Day (many veterans wear them to commemorate the day).

The poppy was inspired by (World War I -era) John McCrae poem “In Flanders Fields”:

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 “though poppies grow in Flanders fields” in the poem is thought by some to refer to the blood stains from shallow graves where soldiers were buried.

In 1924, an artificial poppy factory was created in Pittsburgh, PA, and employed veterans who needed work.