Today in History:

DOUGHBOY REENACTORS & VOLUNTEERS TO GIVE FREE POPPY SEED-PACKETS IN DC, TO REMEMBER AMERICA'S WORLD WAR I VETERANS

DOUGHBOY REENACTORS & VOLUNTEERS TO GIVE FREE POPPY SEED-PACKETS IN DC,
TO REMEMBER AMERICA'S WORLD WAR I VETERANS

Awareness Effort During Inauguration Week honors the 4.7 Million
Americans Who Served in the War

WASHINGTON, DC: There will be non-stop swirling activity in the Nation's
Capital for the upcoming Presidential Inauguration on 20 January.

In the midst of it all, will be teams of World War I Doughboy Reenactors
& Volunteers with the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission. They will
be handing out free poppy seed-packets, telling people about the
Centennial Commission's education programs, commemorative events, and
memorial preservation projects.They will also be posing for Selfie
photos.

Poppy flowers are a traditional symbol of veteran remembrance. The
custom began 100 years ago, during World War I, with the worldwide
popularity of the poem "IN FLANDERS FIELD" by Lieutenant-Colonel John
McCrae. The seeds are suitable for planting.

Americans played a major role in World War I, and in shaping the peace
afterward. 4.7 million American men and women served in the U.S.
military during World War I. 2 million of those people were deployed
overseas to fight.
116,516 of those men and women never made it home. More Americans were
lost in World War I than in the Vietnam War and the Korean War,
combined.

The Centennial Commission was created by Congress in 2013 to mark the
anniversary America's involvement in the war. The Commission was also
authorized to create the new National World War I Memorial, in DC's
Pershing Park -- which is on Pennsylvania Avenue NW, right on the
Presidential Inauguration Parade Route.

The Centennial Commission operates entirely through private donation.
Their founding sponsor is the Pritzker Military Museum and Library in
Chicago, the largest private military research facility in the world.
The Centennial Commission is also closely aligned with the National
World War I Museum and Memorial, in Kansas City.

Information on the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission can be found
at www.ww1cc.org

Information about the Pritzker Military Museum and Library can be found
at www.pritzkermilitary.org/WW1

Information about the National World War I Museum and Memorial, in
Kansas City can be found at https://www.theworldwar.org