'Memorial Field of Poppies' A Labor Of Love From Southold American Legion's Ladies Auxiliary to Vets

NORTH FORK, NY - Dream it and they will come.

That might well be the mantra for a brand-new, first-ever "Memorial Field of Poppies" that's being lovingly created by Southold's Griswold-Terry-Glover American Legion Post 803 Ladies' Auxiliary to honor veterans.

In the weeks leading up to Memorial Day, the women and Legion members are busy creating bright red poppies that will be placed on the lawn outside the American Legion Hall for two weeks in May.

Poppies are available for $20 and will be personalized to honor individual veterans.

When the field of poppies is removed, they can be picked up to keep, or the ribbon can be mailed to the person who made the dedication.

The deadline for placing orders is May 14.

According to Ladies Auxiliary member Donna St. Pierre, the idea was born last year.

St. Pierre said the field of poppies first came to mind when the group was distributing poppies outside the IGA.

"I had a dream," she said.

Reflecting on how Southold High School displayed a field of flags to honor veterans, a "beautiful" gesture, St. Pierre said the idea for the poppies, bright red and proud outside the Legion post, took shape.

"The next morning my husband Joe had made one," she said.

St. Pierre brought it to Denise Thilberg, Ladies Auxiliary member and owner of Making Waves Hair Studio in Cutchogue.

The project kicked off last May and has gained momentum, St. Pierre said.

"Our little dream is starting to take shape," she said.

The purpose of the poppy sale is twofold, St. Pierre said: To raise funds to help veterans, and to to raise awareness and keep veterans in the minds of the public.

"Our main focus was to try and educate about what a sacrifice our veterans have made, and continue to make," she said. Her voice filled with tears, she added, "Some veterans live their whole lives with the repercussions of war."

St. Pierre's husband Joe created the design and has been doing the "bulk of the work" to create the poppies. First, she said, the bottom of a soda bottle is cut off — the project also involves recycling, she noted — and half is shaped into a flower. Next, the 2.5 to 3-inch poppy is spray painted bright red, and there are washers and nuts and a piece of threaded rod to keep them stable for planting outside.

"There will be bright red poppies on the lawn," she said. "They should make quite an epic statement."

Local merchants donated some of the paint, she said, and special ribbons were ordered to memorialize veterans, including their name, dates of service, rank, branch of service and what war they served in and facts about their tour of duty; that information is attached via label makers and made to withstand the elements outdoors.

The experience has been emotional, St. Pierre said. "People are learning things they never would have, if they hadn't decided to donate a poppy and go talk to their uncle or father or aunt. Every day, when I open these, I have tears in my eyes. It's turning out to be quite a special project."

Thilberg said to date, 50 poppies have been sold, with the goal of selling around 200. All proceeds will be donated to the Long Island-based "Boots on the Ground" organization, she said.

"It's great to be involved in this project," Thilberg said. "It's exciting to watch this project evolve into a huge garden. Hopefully the community will enjoy our special Memorial Field of Poppies."

As for Marie Haeg, a new member of the American Legion who joined because she was looking for a way to help veterans who are "near and dear" to her heart, the poppy field is deeply personal, too.

"My daughter Lisa Woffinden is a retiree of the United States Air Force," a lieutenant colonel who retired after 26 years after a year in Iraq and a tour of Afghanistan, she said. "I made millions of cookies during those years."

Haeg's father Hector Pemberton, whose family hailed from Greenport was also a Marine and World War II veteran who won a Purple Heart; all of the 13 siblings in his family served the nation, she said.

"This is special," she said, becoming emotional. "People need to never forget. We have to treat our veterans better, and this will bring that home, to people's minds, and remind them of what's important."

According to the Veterans of Foreign Wars website, the VFW conducted its first poppy distribution before Memorial Day in 1922, becoming the first veterans' organization to organize a nationwide distribution. The poppy soon was adopted as the official memorial flower of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States.

During the 1923 encampment, the site says, the VFW decided that VFW "Buddy"® Poppies would be assembled by disabled and needy veterans who would be paid for their work to provide them with financial assistance.

In February 1924, the VFW registered the name Buddy Poppy with the U.S. patent office. Today, VFW Buddy Poppies are still assembled by disabled and needy veterans in VA Hospitals, the site says. The VFW Buddy Poppy program provides compensation to the veterans who assemble the poppies, provides financial assistance in maintaining state and national veterans' rehabilitation and service programs and partially supports the VFW National Home For Children, the site said.

A poem by Lieutentant Colonel John McCrae, MD, captures the essence of what poppies mean to veterans:

In Flanders Fields

"In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields."

The Southold American Legion's Ladies Auxiliary raises funds for important project.s Last year, they presented a $10,000 check to the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind’s America’s VetDogs program.

To purchase a poppy, call Donna at 631-765-8144 or Mimi at 631-734-5664.