Saturday, January 24, 2009

"buddy" poppy


Claudia got this at a fair in Alabama. Now, I know what Poppies mean in Canada on Armistice Day, and I know what they mean in the War on Drugs, but now they have something to do with a relationship like Ken's and Allan's?

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm from Canada and I can tell you that I've never heard of Armistice Day.. we call it "Remembrance Day". Just sayin..

Anonymous said...

I have never known why they use quotation marks around buddy, but this is from the Veterans of Foreign Wars in the USA. I don't really know what they do, either, but I always give them a dollar or so when I see them. Still, the quotations marks have always eluded me. Maybe because a poppy can't really be your buddy?

Winona said...

Well, this is unnerving... the poppies are sold Memorial Day weekends in the USA by local VFW chapters by people accosting you at stoplights. I am a cousin of Gen. John Alexander Logan, who is credited with starting Memorial Day... and it's very disappointing that Blackjack Logan is being represented by unnecessary quotation marks!!! I'll make sure to give a good look to ones I buy this year, that's for sure!

Christine said...

Like Alison said, in Canada poppies are for rememberance day.

Dan Kurek said...

The "Buddy" poppy is a U.S. trademark, hence the quotation marks, of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. It was trademarked in an effort to guarantee the poppy was manufactured by disabled and needy veterans and that the proceeds would be used for their benefit.

Canada's Remembrance Day and the United States's Veterans Day both have their roots in what was originally named Armistice Day in both countries. Canada changed it to Remembrance Day in 1931 and, the United States changed it to Veterans Day in 1954. The purpose of the commemorative days are very similar: to honor the respective nations' veterans of wars.

Memorial Day in the United States began as Decoration Day shortly after the U.S. Civil War. It's original purpose was to "strew with flowers or other decorat[ions] the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion."

The poppy became known as The Flower of Remembrance by the allied nations, including Canada and the United States, after World War I. Distribution of manufactured poppies in several nations began shortly after the war. In the United States and Canada, distribution began around 1920.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, History of Veterans Day. Accessed February 5, 2009. http://www1.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetdayhistory.asp

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, History of Memorial Day. Accessed February 5, 2009.
http://www1.va.gov/opa/speceven/memday/history.asp#hist

Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, Buddy Poppy. Accessed February 5, 2009.
http://www.vfw.org/index.cfm?fa=cmty.levelc&cid=127

Armistice Day in Canada. Accessed February 5, 2009.
http://modern-canadian-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/armistice_day_in_canada

Anonymous said...

great to see this ...
thanks a lot...

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Melvin
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