PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. – The Calvert County Board of County Commissioners designated May 26, 2023 as Poppy Day.
At the end of World War I, the American Legion family adopted the poppy as a symbol of freedom and the blood sacrificed by troops in wartimes. The flower is also symbolically showcased in England and Canada on their Remembrance Day, also known as Armistice Day and Poppy Day. Today, poppies are worn and displayed as a symbolic tribute to our fallen veterans and future service members.
The use of the poppy comes from the poem “In Flanders Fields,” which refers to the poppies that sprang up in the churned-up earth of newly dug soldiers’ graves over parts of Belgium and France in its opening line, “In Flanders Fields the poppies blow, between the crosses, row on row.”
Citizens are encouraged to observe Poppy Day and honor every service member who has died in the name of liberty, freedom and democracy, and show their support for living veterans, service members and their families.