Yes, I would like to talk a bit about the poppy. I really appreciate the fact that a flower, and not a gun or other similar object, was chosen to symbolize the military. Do you know the true origins of the poppy? Why was it chosen?
I was told—and whether or not this is accurate, I am not sure—that poppies grew in the battlefields and meadows of Europe, just as our fields are covered in daisies and dandelions. It seems that soldiers would bring the poppy home as a souvenir because it was so beautiful.
During a day of fighting, there would be smoke, and the next day, the sun would be shining and the meadows covered in flowers. That is the story I was told. Is it true? Is that how the tradition came to be?