Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Wear Poppy Pins as They Make Surprise Outing to Help Navy SEALs

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex also met veteran and active duty service members and their loved ones while in San Diego

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry recognized veterans and service members during a second surprise outing in San Diego ahead of Veterans Day and Remembrance Day.

After spending Wednesday morning with veterans and active duty service members and their loved ones at Camp Pendleton, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex visited the grand opening of the Navy SEAL Foundation’s Warrior Fitness Program West Coast facility in San Diego, a few hours' drive south of their home in Montecito, California.

According to the couple's Archewell Foundation, they "toured the new state-of-the-art complex, met with service members benefitting from the program and officially opened the facility alongside 250 supporters and participants."

The Warrior Fitness Program provides holistic support for Naval Special Warfare personnel and veterans, with a focus on both their physical and mental wellness. During the visit, Navy SEALs, veterans and their families spoke with Prince Harry, 39, and Meghan, 42, about the importance of the program's resources and support.

Related: Prince Harry on Why He Fought in British Army: 'There's Still Scars Left Open from My Mom's Awesomeness'

As seen in a video by CBS 8 San Diego, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex took part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony outside the facility.

Prince Harry served in the British Army for 10 years and undertook two tours in Afghanistan. He has maintained a strong tie to the military, and his Invictus Games — the Paralympics-style competition for service personnel he created — just had its sixth event in September.

Both Prince Harry and Meghan wore poppy pins during the outing — accessories that members of the royal family, including King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William and Kate Middleton, have also worn in recent days.

The poppy has been used since 1921 to commemorate military members who have died in war. The red flower is primarily associated with the U.K. and Commonwealth countries for Remembrance Day on November 11, though the U.S. also occasionally uses the symbol. The Veterans of Foreign Wars conducted the first nationwide distribution of remembrance poppies before Memorial Day in 1922, and the American Legion Auxiliary distributes paper poppies in exchange for donations around Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

The poppy symbol is believed to have come from the poem "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae, a poem about World War I. The opening stanza reads:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

While Prince Harry has been wearing the symbol throughout his life, Meghan began wearing poppies at her first Anzac Day service in 2018 alongside Harry just one month before their royal wedding.

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Meghan also incorporated poppies into her ensemble earlier on Wednesday during the visit to Camp Pendleton, sporting a cardigan with the symbol.

During their visit, Meghan and Harry stopped by Operation Bigs — a first-of-its-kind mentoring program dedicated to children of military families, including active duty, veteran and Gold Star families. So far, the program has served more than 3,000 Navy and Marine Corps children and has expanded to over 30 affiliates across the country.

Prince Harry previously said he knew he wanted to be out of the military before starting a family. He and Meghan have two children: son Prince Archie, 4, and Princess Lilibet, 2.

"Being a dad certainly adds another emotional layer to it," the Duke of Sussex told PEOPLE exclusively in 2022 in an interview surrounding the fifth iteration of the Invictus Games. "When I was in the Army, I promised myself I would be out before having a wife and kids because I couldn't imagine the heartache of being apart for so long during deployment, the risk of possibly getting injured and the reality that my family's lives could be changed forever if that happened."

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