Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By CHARITY SMITH
Bessemer — The Bessemer veterans organizations are selling poppies to aid veterans near and far.
Members of Bessemer VFW Post 3673 and American Legion Post 27 were out in the community offering the small, red silk flowers for a donation on Friday and will be out again today, according to VFW Post Commander Donna Frello.
Proceeds from poppy sale will go towards the service members relief fund to help veterans in need of assistance, said Frello.
Locally, the funds help with things such as gas cards and other items given on a case-by- case basis, she said.
The annual VFW Buddy Poppy program provides compensation to disabled and needy veterans in VA hospitals who assemble the poppies, provides financial assistance in maintaining state and national veterans’ rehabilitation and service programs and supports the VFW National Home For Children.
Veterans will be distributing poppies outside of Walmart from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today for a donation. The poppies will also be available at the Bessemer American Legion and VFW posts.
Poppies are used to remember those who gave their lives in battle because they are the flowers which grew on the battlefields after World War I ended. According to the American Legion website, scientists attributed the growth to soils in France and Belgium becoming enriched with lime from the rubble left by the war.
The red poppy has come to symbolize the bloodshed during battle following the publication of the wartime poem “In Flanders Fields,” written by Lt. Col. John McCrae while serving on the front line, according to the website.
On Sept. 27, 1920, the poppy became the official flower of the American Legion family to memorialize the soldiers who fought and died during the war. The VFW has been distributing poppies since Memorial Day 1922. The American Legion has been distributing poppies annually since 1924.
