Memorial Day Poppies remind us to honor the sacrifices and courage of the US military

Memorial poppies, the little red flowers that honor US troops killed in wartime, will be distributed May 18, 19, 23, 24, and 25 at various locations throughout La Grange, Western Springs, La Grange Park, and Countryside by veterans and volunteer members of the Robert E. Coulter, Jr, American Legion and Auxiliary in La Grange. American Legion volunteers will be stationed outside local businesses accepting donations in exchange for a memorial poppy.

All money raised by the La Grange American Legion and Auxiliary during the annual Poppy Days is donated to programs for hospitalized and homeless veterans receiving care at Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital and to Fisher House, which provides free housing to military families staying with a loved one receiving care at Hines VA Hospital.

The association of poppies with military sacrifice on the battlefield began in the years following World War I. Wild poppies that spread red blossoms across the scarred battlefields of France and Belgium were immortalized in the World War I poem “In Flanders Fields” with its poignant description of the poppies gently blowing “between the crosses, row on row” in a hastily dug battlefield cemetery.  In 1921, the American Legion Auxiliary adopted the Flanders Fields poppy as a symbol of remembrance and reverence for all members of the US Armed Services who died during the war.

Today the message of the memorial poppy is more important than ever, says La Grange American Legion Auxiliary President Rita Baumgart. “It’s easy to forget we are at war because fewer than one percent of Americans are serving in the military today. During past wars, almost every family knew a veteran.  We hope everyone who sees us handing out poppies in the days leading up to Memorial Day will pause to remember the enormous sacrifices made by the men and women of today’s military and their families, and by the generations of brave military who served and died before them.”

Since military operations in Afghanistan began in late 2001, 2,208 US troops have been killed and 18,480 have been wounded in action, according to numbers released by the Department of Defense on May 13, 2013. Since 2003, the Iraq war has claimed the lives of 4,475 US troops, and 32,222 have been wounded in action. The Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs lists the names of 321 local military heroes who have been killed in both conflicts since 2001.

The American Legion Auxiliary, founded in 1919, is the world’s largest patriotic women’s service organization. The Robert E. Coulter, Jr, Post and Auxiliary Unit 1941 in La Grange was chartered during World War II and is named in honor of one of the first La Grange residents to die in that war. Major Coulter, a member of the US Army Air Force, was killed in action over North Africa in 1943.