Belleville American Legion Scores Big With 2021 Poppy Fundraiser

BELLEVILLE, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of American Legion Post 105 and Sons of the American Legion Squadron 105. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site.

American Legion Post 105 and Sons of the American Legion (SAL) Squadron 105 distributed poppies again over Memorial Day Weekend this year at the ShopRite on Washington Avenue, raising thousands of dollars which go directly to programs supporting veterans in need.

As does almost every veterans organization in the country, Post and Squadron 105 handed out the familiar red crepe poppy flowers to shoppers over Memorial Day weekend, a program which has been in existence since 1921. The poppy program, which has its cornerstone as National Poppy Day, always the Friday before Memorial Day, finds its origins in World War I and the poem “Flanders Field” by John McCrae.

As that famous poem starts, “In Flanders Fields the poppies blow, Between the crosses row on row, That mark our place….” After World War I, the poppy flourished in Europe - scientists attributed the growth to soils in France and Belgium becoming enriched with lime from the rubble left by the war. From that dirt and mud grew a beautiful red poppy. The red poppy came to symbolize the blood shed during battle, not only during the First World War, but in every engagement since. The paper poppy is handed out with a tag that says “In Memorium” – standing for every serviceman who has been killed in the service of his country.

But the program, aside from a reminder of our killed-in-action serviceman, is meant to raise money that goes to veterans in need. The community is asked to wear the poppy and donate what they can to “Honor the fallen and support the living.” Belleville always answers the call – “we are always amazed by the generosity of the community,” commented SAL Commander Steve Sangemino.

From May 25 to May 31, Legionnaires and Sons stood in three hour shifts outside of the ShopRite with poppies and donation cans. To remind shoppers of what Memorial Day is really all about, SAL Steve Mercier and Bob ‘Boog” Lynch stood post Memorial Day morning distributing the flowers, while the rest of the Post attended Belleville’s Memorial Day remembrances.

It’s important to also hand the flowers to the children who are shopping with their parents, so that the next generation of Americans understand what service and sacrifice is all about. Memorial Day isn’t about the start of summer, the BBQ’s, or the opening of pools – it’s about remembering, memorializing, and celebrating who we are as Americans, and honoring the ultimate price many of those in uniform have paid to secure our freedom.

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