On May 18th, volunteers organized by the Livingston County Veterans Service Organization gathered to paint and perform maintenance on the Livingston County Veterans Memorial, a meaningful tradition ahead of Memorial Day.

The memorial itself is a lovely tribute: custom-made poppies, each dedicated to an individual service member, arranged across a field designed to represent the United States Flag. The choice of the poppy is no accident. The red flower has long symbolized remembrance, a tribute to the bloodshed of fallen soldiers and a show of support for living Veterans. Its meaning traces back to the World War I poem “In Flanders Fields,” which described bright red poppies growing over the graves of fallen troops in war-torn Belgium, an image that has endured for more than a century.

Among those who showed up was our own Luke Moody, Veterans Coalition Program Coordinator and a Veteran himself. Most volunteers were Veterans who wanted to give back to a memorial that honors people like them while finding community in the process.