Wearing of remembrance ribbons/badges

[Yvaine]

I'm from the Midwest and I've rarely seen them. I think I saw one booth, once, selling the poppies. I've never seen large groups of people wearing them (or pressure to wear them, as was mentioned on ETA: this thread http://www.etiquettehell.com/smf/index.php?topic=86047.0). But my workplace does go in for a lot of the "wear pink for this, wear red for that" events.

[Bethczar]

I grew up in Wisconsin and I don't ever remember seeing them.  Of course, it was Madison, which maybe explains it. Since I grew up in the 1970s.

Yup, I live in Wisconsin (and now, Madison). I remember VFW guys selling them when I was younger, but (as I said earlier  )haven't seen them for at least 10 years now.

[Outdoor Girl]

It used to be here in Canada that members of the Royal Canadian Legion would man the doors at malls and such selling poppies.  They do still do that but more commonly, they have a box on the counter at various establishments where you can drop in coins and pick up your own poppy.  I liked it when I ran across a vet, though, because they'd pin the poppy on for me and they never came off.

But they might rethink their stance on poppy boxes all over the place.  There have been some well publicized thefts of the boxes in Toronto and Hamilton.  Bacon fed knaves...

[camlan]

I grew up on Army bases around the US and the first poppy I ever saw was when I spent a year in England when I was in my 30s. So I think the poppies are somewhat regional in the US. I did go to the Veterans' Administration website for more info, and they state that in the US, poppies are properly worn on Memorial Day, which is the US day to remember our fallen war dead. Veterans Day, although it is celebrated at the same time as Remembrance Day in other countries, is a day to celebrate our living veterans, and therefore the poppy is not appropriate.

My grandfather, a WWI veteran, did make me memorize "In Flanders Fields."

[Outdoor Girl]

I can still recite 'In Flanders Fields' from memorizing it in elementary school.  I usually recite it to myself on Remembrance Day - I don't go to cenataph ceremonies because I don't do well in crowds.