Buddy Poppy - Fall 2024

Since 1922, the "Buddy”® Poppy has been an integral part  of the VFW community. As the VFW’s official memorial flower, the Poppy represents the blood shed by American service members. It reiterates the VFW will not forget their sacrifices.

The Poppy movement was inspired by Canadian Army Col. John McCrae’s famous poem, "In Flanders Fields.” Poppies were originally distributed by the Franco-American Children’s League to benefit children in the devastated areas of France and Belgium following WWI.

In 1922, VFW conducted a campaign and got Poppies from France. Members soon discovered it took too long to get the flowers in from France and they came up with a better idea. Disabled, hospitalized and aging veterans could make the paper flowers and ship them out to the members for distribution.  And so it was known, for veterans in VA hospitals and domiciliaries and in state veterans’ homes, every day would be VFW "Buddy”® Poppy Day. These men and women assemble the Poppies, tie them in bunches of 10 and pack them in boxes of 500, 1,000 or 2,000 for shipment to the Posts and Auxiliaries. VFW pays the disabled veteran for the work. In most cases, this extra money provides additional income for the worker to pay for the little luxuries which make life more tolerable. Furthermore, Poppy assembly is often used as a therapy program to provide exercise for fingers and hands crippled by wounds, disease and the effects of old age.

Another reason Poppies are so important is because all proceeds from distribution are used for veteran’s welfare or for the well being of their needy dependents and the orphans of veterans. More than 2,300 children of veterans have been, or are being cared for in the VFW National Home in Eaton Rapids, Michigan, thanks to a portion of Poppy funds.