WATERTOWN — The VFW’s annual Buddy Poppy campaign is set for Memorial Day weekend.
The fundraiser was developed after World War I after soldiers in France died and were subsequently buried at the Flanders Fields battle site where poppy flowers are now grown. The tradition came to the north country in 1924 when the Veterans of Foreign Wars secured a patent for cardboard-like poppies, Watertown VFW trustee Bonnie Perrin said.
The VFW also appoints a young girl to be the “Poppy Queen,” who will take part in May festivities, including the Armed Forces Day Parade, which marched through Watertown on Saturday.
There is no set price for each Buddy Poppy, only a donation.
After countless battles during World War I in France and Flanders, fields, trees and soil were all destroyed. By spring 1915, the poppy flower began to grow, History.com says.
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