Billings Red Poppies: Why Veterans Hand Them Out and Where Your Donation Goes

I was leaving Walmart in the Heights with my groceries when I spotted the sweetest older gentleman offering little red poppies. He was a veteran, and my son saw him, too. Before I could even reach for my wallet, my son was already asking me for money to give him.

I always stop for a red poppy. I grew up a military kid. My dad served in the Army, and my grandpa was in the Navy. Two of my uncles served in the Air Force. Getting a poppy every year means a lot to my little family and me.

Montana Veterans by the Numbers: 79,357 Statewide and 12,127 in Yellowstone County

The U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey estimates that 79,357 veterans lived in Montana, including 12,127 in Yellowstone County, based on data collected from 2020 through 2024. If military service is part of your family’s story, too, you probably have your own reasons for stopping when you see those little red flowers.

Billings Veterans Day Poppies: What the Red Flower Means

Veterans Day is this Wednesday, November 11. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs describes it as the day set aside to thank and honor all who served honorably in the military, in wartime or peacetime. The VA also notes that wearing poppies in honor of America’s war dead is traditionally a Memorial Day practice, and that the custom comes from “In Flanders Fields,” a poem John McCrae wrote in 1915.

McCrae was a Canadian who served as a surgeon during World War I. Today, NBC Washington reports that the red poppy is commonly used on both Veterans Day and Memorial Day to commemorate those who served and those who sacrificed their lives in service.

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Billings VFW Post 6774 Buddy Poppies: How Your Donation Helps Veterans

The Veterans of Foreign Wars has handed out poppies for more than a century. Post 6774’s website explains that the VFW held its first nationwide poppy distribution before Memorial Day in 1922. It also says disabled and needy veterans in VA hospitals still assemble Buddy Poppies. Post 6774 is in the Heights.

According to the VFW, the Buddy Poppy program pays the veterans who assemble the flowers and provides financial assistance for veterans’ rehabilitation and service programs. It also partially supports the VFW National Home. DC Military reports that most proceeds from each campaign stay local, funding veteran services and welfare.

If you see someone offering red poppies on your way out of the grocery store this week, wherever you call home in Montana, I hope you’ll stop for one and give what you can. To reach Post 6774, call 406-248-3148.