WASHINGTON — Although Memorial Day is the unofficial kickoff to summer, the real reason behind the holiday is much more solemn than that. “Freedom is not free. And since World War I, 645,000 Americans ...

The poppy flower has long been associated with veterans and their service, but what does it symbolize and why? The flower is commonly used on both Veterans Day and Memorial Day as a symbol to ...

Red poppies are worn on Memorial Day to honor fallen military members. The tradition started during World War I, inspired by a poem and the poppies growing on battlefields. The American Legion and VFW ...

The symbolism behind the poppy flower started with a world war and prose. British Lt. Col. John McCrae penned the famous poem "In Flanders Fields" in 1915 after his friend, a Canadian medic, died in ...