This year’s Memorial Day Parade in Fremont included a new addition.
It was the local Americal Legion Auxiliary’s Poppy Princess and the Badger Girls State representative for Unit 391.
Abigail Tangwall, the 2014 Poppy Princess, will represent Unit 391 at several functions throughout the year.
Tangwall is from Fremont Elementary School and is a junior member of Unit 391. She was eligible through her great grandfather, Thomas Pitt, a World War II veteran.
The Poppy Program dates back to the end of World War I, when The American Legion adopted the poppy as a symbol of freedom and the blood sacrifices by troops in wartime.
This program, to benefit veterans, has been around for nearly a century.
The rules have changed and now help active-duty military as well.
In the past, the month of May was “Poppy” month, but with the needs of veterans and active-duty military on the rise, a rule change makes the use of poppies for donations possible throughout the year.
Last year, the local unit sent $150 to the Homeless Female Veterans Grant Fund, $500 to the Wisconsin Veterans Home at King $100 to Zablocki Memorial VA in Milwaukee, $500 to Ainsworth Hall at King, Special Care Units and $400 to Camp American Legion.
Erin Van Lyssel, the Badger Girls State representative, is a junior at Weyauwega-Fremont High School.
She will spend June 15-20 at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
Since 1948, the Auxiliary Unit 391 has sponsored 66 girls to Badger Girls State.
Badger Girls State is a program about the democratic form of government.
It started in 1941 with the purpose of preparing girls of high school age in Wisconsin for citizenship in a modern world.