I was previously unaware that the U.S. had or was using the Poppy as a remembrance symbol. I obtained these from a cordial group of veterans in Buffalo NY over the Memorial Day weekend who were soliciting donations on behalf of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
You made me google it. Actress Doris Day was selected by the VFW to be their 1950 Buddy Poppy Girl. Photo Credit: VFWNY
This is rather a late comment to this thread but I came across it and wondered if anyone was interested to learn that the U.S.A. played a large part in Poppy Lady Madame Guérin's fund-raising campaigns throughout World War One and, ultimately, after she formulated her 'Inter-Allied Poppy Day' idea. Although American Legion members supported Madame Guérin in her 1919/20 Poppy Days and in her first nation-wide Poppy Day campaign in May 1921, it was Veterans of Foreign Wars' veterans who stepped in when the American Legion adopted the daisy as its memorial flower for a while - thus, with Guérin's French-made poppies, they became the first US veterans to hold a nation-wide Poppy Day campaign in May 1922. Sadly, the American Legion has erased her from its history but the VFW has never forgotten her. The VFW patented its "Buddy" poppy name in 1924. Madame Guérin
