Members of the Tamaqua American Legion Post 173 and its Auxiliary named Ava Murray, 7, as this year’s Tamaqua Poppy Queen. Ava is the daughter of Brian and Melanie-Perla Murray of Tamaqua. She is the granddaughter of Craig (a 1970-71 Vietnam veteran with the 984th Land Clearing, 11th Armored Calvary) and Linda Murray of Sinking Spring, and Eugene and Margaret Perla of Tamaqua.
Ava attends 1st grade at Rush Elementary School in Hometown. Activities include USA Martial Arts and spending time with family. She is also is a junior member of the Tamaqua American Legion Auxiliary.
Ava will be selling poppies during this year’s Tamaqua Memorial Day Parade set for Monday, May 25, 2015 starting at 10 AM. The parade will run from East Broad Street to West Broad Street. Immediately following the end of the parade, there will be a Memorial Day Service at Soldiers Circle at Odd Fellows Cemetery. Following that service, there will be another service outside the American Legion at 12 PM. Veterans are encouraged to stop in the Legion afterwards for free refreshments.

From the American Legion Auxiliary website:
Connecting the visual image of the poppy with the sacrifice of service made by our veterans has been an important goal of the American Legion Auxiliary Poppy Program since its inception in 1921. On Memorial Day and Veterans Day, millions of red crepe paper poppies—all handmade by veterans as part of their therapeutic rehabilitation—are distributed across the country in exchange for donations that go directly to assist disabled and hospitalized veterans in our communities.
The Poppy Program raises community awareness and respect for our veterans by educating Auxiliary members and the public about the symbol of the poppy, taken from a line in the poem “In Flanders Fields” written on the battlefront during World War I by Lt. Col. John McCrae, M.D.
The purpose of the Poppy Program is to elevate community awareness and respect for our veterans by educating our membership and the public about the poppy’s significance and the financial benefit realized by our nation’s veterans as a result of its distribution.

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