I’m pretty sure Canadians do, but I wondered if this was a custom for Americans, too.
I don’t think we even have a holiday we call Remembrance Day.
It is not a custom here in the US - everyone wore one when I lived in England and they were handed out door-to-door style during the weeks before Armistice Day.
Having said that, I do know that some members of the American Legion and VFW that I know personally wear them around this time of the year.
I’ve never heard of or seen anyone here do that.
Keep in mind that Nov 11, Armistice Day/Remembrance Day in much of Europe, is Veteran’s Day here.
Our “Remembrance Day” (Memorial Day) is on the last Monday in May, although historically it was on May 30th. There are some poppies worn then, but since our Memorial Day predates the post-WWI Remembrance Day, and the poem “In Flanders Fields”, poppies aren’t really traditional.
Veterans have handed out poppies to passers-by on downtown streets here my whole life, as long as I worked in downtown. I haven’t worked in downtown in a decade, though,and the custom was aging as fast as the veterans so it may have ceased in the past few years. Or Iraq might have reawakened it.
Either way, the answer to the OP is yes, poppies on Veterans Day was and I believe is a long-standing custom at least in some parts of the U.S.
It’s not a holiday in the U.K. There’s a two minute silence on 11th Nov, and services and parades on the Sunday - usually the second Sunday in November.
I’m somewhat premature, but:
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
(Laurence Binyon, 21st Sept 1914)
Do Americans have similar poems, or are you rather more upbeat?
I remember being able to buy little silk poppies on Veterans’ Day, to wear in a buttonhole. You could get them from members of the VFW and such. Haven’t seen them in a long time, though. I don’t think poppies were ever as much of a habit here as in British-empire-type places–I suppose because “In Flanders Fields” was before 1917.
I remember them being handed out at Boy Scouts and in elementary school.
Definately around here. Usually for a dollar donation to the VFW. I’m not sure if the American Legion does it. I usually put it on my rear view mirror.
I tried to see if there was any mention of poppies on the VFW website but I don’t see any. I am surprised to see that I am eligible to join, since I have never heard a shot fired in anger.
And just a note for non-Americans, “VFW” is Veterans of Foreign Wars, an organization of American veterans. Local chapters generally have halls where they can go to hang out together, or rent out the halls for things like wedding receptions. They also often do symbolic things like marching in parades, or (apparently, though I’ve never seen it done myself) distributing poppies.
It may not have caught on as much in the U.S., but it was an American who came up with the idea in the first place, right at the end of WWI, as explained here:
I don’t recall ever seeing them in Washington or Oregon in the US. Up here in Vancouver BC they are everywhere.
In (my part of) Michigan we had poppies for Veterans’ Day whilst growing up. It certainly wasn’t the phenomenon that it is here in Ontario for Rememberance Day. I guess the Ontarioians (or Canadians in general?) have more rememberance than we do. When you change the name of a holiday to “Veterans’ Day” and there’s a whole generation of people that don’t give a whit about veterans, then the holiday loses its importance. I’m just speculating, however, and maybe inappropriately so for GQ.
As a further WAG, the poppy thing could have just been a spillover from the Canucks where I grew up on the border. Everyone says it’s a Canadianism, but I grew up with no confusion over “homo milk” and the Ontario accent doesn’t sound funny to me.
Gosh, they’ve handed out poppies for Veteran’s Day every place I’ve ever lived. Of course, I’ve generally lived in areas with a military presence. I’ve mostly lived in San Diego, or Hampton Roads, VA. However, I spent my teens and early 20s in Northern California (Ukiah) and they certainly gave out poppies around there.
I have a poppy hanging from my rear view mirror right now, and it’ll stay there 'til I get another this Veteran’s Day. Maybe you have to watch for them – they’re usually handed out at shopping centers and stores, in my experience.
My mom was born in 1940 and her dad was a disabled WWI vet. Mom remembers going with him every Veteran’s Day to hand out poppies in downtown San Diego.
We’ve worn the poppy (on our rear view mirror) for evah. My parents did it and my husband and I do it. It’s tradition in the Chicago area.
I do, but I am the only one. I always remember 11/11. Bitch of a war.
The VFW Buddy Poppy program has been in existence since 1922.
In my home town they sold them for a dime and I always bought one. The program seems to have waned, but I still see them distributed on occasion.
Thanks David, good link. I don’t know how I missed it. I remember your background, are you a member?
No. I’m not much of a joiner of organizations.