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Memorial Day, a national day of remembrance of those who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. The White House has often served as a site of tribute to fallen servicemen and women. For example, several times throughout his presidency, Franklin D. Roosevelt welcomed the children of fallen service members at the White House to purchase the first Buddy Poppy of the year. The Buddy Poppy program, a nationwide campaign created by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), commenced in 1924 when disabled veterans began assembling Buddy Poppies, the official memorial flower of World War I, at a factory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Buddy Poppy program not only provided work for disabled veterans but the profits from the national campaign also supported financially challenged veterans and created mementos for those who had lost their lives in service to their country. In 1925, the National Home for Widows and Orphans of Ex-Service Men at Eaton Rapids, Michigan, was founded with the support of Buddy Poppy proceeds. On May 27, 1944, President Roosevelt met six-year-old Phyllis Firebaugh to buy the first Buddy Poppy of the 1944 campaign (pictured). Phyllis was the daughter of a deceased veteran named Samuel R. Firebaugh, and she and her siblings lived at the VFW Home for Children. During the meeting, President Roosevelt placed Phyllis on his desk in the Oval Office and showed her how to place the Buddy Poppy into his lapel. -- Image: Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum/NARA