American Legion Auxiliary giving out red poppies to remember soldiers

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Red poppies have long been a symbol of remembrance of soldiers who lost their lives in battle.

Ahead of Memorial Day on Monday, members of the Galesburg American Legion Post 285 Auxiliary will be around town today and tomorrow distributing artificial poppies from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

President of the American Legion Auxiliary June O’Brien says that many local businesses let legion volunteers offer residents poppies out front or leave a canister of poppies for people to take.

O’Brien tells WGIL the auxiliary just hopes as many people as possible take and wear the artificial flowers to honor soldiers on Memorial Day weekend.

“If people want to give us a donation when they take a poppy, that’s fine, otherwise we are more than happy to just give them one,” O’Brien says. “It’s an honor to our veterans to just wear them.”

All poppies that will be given out were made by residents at the Quincy Veterans Home.

“If we do receive money, that money is only used for veteran programs,” O’Brien adds. “It is not used to buy things that aren’t veteran related.”

The poppy began as a symbol to remember fallen soldiers started from the John McCrae poem, In Flanders Field, that speaks of the poppies that remained on a Belgian World War I battlefield where countless soldiers were killed in battle.

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