SOLON– The annual distribution of poppies in the Solon area occurs on Saturday, May 15, through Memorial Day. Cans are available in various businesses where individuals can make a donation and receive a poppy. On Saturday, May 22, several Legion Auxiliary members will go door to door in some neighborhoods distributing poppies.
Lakeview’s second and third grade students made poppy posters to be displayed at the American Legion hall and other businesses, as allowed by the COVID restrictions.
The poppy is the memorial flower for the American war dead serving as a tradition since 1920, when the American Legion National Convention adopted the poppy as the official flower to honor soldiers who died fighting in WWI. The tradition began as veterans returning home remembered the wild poppies growing in the devastated battlefields of France and Flanders, and soldiers of all nations came to look upon the flower as a living symbol of their dead comrades’ sacrifice.
A Canadian officer, Colonel John McCrae, killed in the war, immortalized the flowers in his famous poem whose opening lines are familiar to many.
“In Flanders field the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row…”
All funds received from the poppies, made by hospitalized and disabled veterans, are used by the American Legion Auxiliary in programs to help veterans. The generosity is greatly appreciated.