American Legion Auxiliary Post 17 in Lewes hopes that each of you will pause with love in your heart for the parents, siblings, spouses and friends of those who served our great country. The Post 17 family can’t help but think of all the men and women who have gone to fight for this great nation and didn’t return home. We especially pay tribute to our local veterans and their families and friends.

Memorial Day weekend is when Americans set aside time to honor those brave men and women, who met tragic ends while defending our freedom. It is our duty to honor their sacrifices, to pray for their families and to bow our heads in recognition of their service.

We hope everyone will learn the poem “In Flanders Field” and share it with a child. It describes the poppy, which bloomed on the battlefields of France and Belgium after World War I and which has since become an internationally known and recognized symbol of the lives sacrificed in war and the hope that none died in vain. National Poppy Day is May 28. Proudly wear red and sport your red poppy.

Our Poppy Program is underway — we hope you will wear your own poppy from past years or get a new one from Post 17. Your donations are critical, so our programs for local veterans and active military service members can continue. We will never forget.

This Memorial Day weekend, there will be two “poppy cemeteries” in Lewes: one at Post 17 (American Legion Road) and the other at the Lighthouse triangle, as you enter the city (head to the corner of Kings and Freeman highways). At the post’s “cemetery,” there will be banners, white crosses and bright-red poppies strewn across the lawn to remind everyone to take a moment to bow their heads and remember. Blank memorial tags will be stationed outside by the front fence. Write the name of a beloved service member lost, his/her branch, years of service and date of death, and place it near one of the poppies on the front lawn.

We ask that you educate someone about the significance of the poppy first. And then — on Memorial Day — pause, face an American flag wherever you may be, place hand over heart and with, veterans in mind, say with gratitude and pride, “Thank you for your service.”

Murt Foos

American Legion Auxiliary Unit 17

Lewes