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Show The Story of The American Legion Auxilary Poppy The idei of the poppy as a memorial mem-orial fiower for the World war dead sprang up as naturally as the I ttlr wild f'.ower itself grows In the fields ci Prance and Flanders. The flower was the one touch of beauty vthkh survived amid the hdeoiib destruction of war. Along the edt;e of the trenches, t erica th the tangled tang-led barbed wire, about the ragged shell holes and over the fresh gi nves it raised its brave red blossom. blos-som. It seemed to be the one immortal im-mortal thing in that region where tienth reigned. The soldiers of all nations came to loDk upon It as the lhtns symbol of the sacrifices of their dead coirtrades. It was a poet who first gave expression ex-pression to the idea. Soon himself to He beneath the poppies, he wrote: ''In Flnnders' field the popples blow. Between the crosses, row on row-" Even before the men had returned return-ed from the war, the prefect little loem of Colonel John McCrae had 1 winged Its way around the world carrying tie picture of the poppies. Relturnlng cottiers brought the i vision of the poppy field back wltn I them, engraved Indelibly In their iheails with the memories of the corn ados thay had left on the bal-tle-front. Spontaneously the poppy took on a sacred significance. It became the flower of remembrance for the men who had poured out their life's blood around the rootc of the little plant. Memories of the war dead always al-ways bring thoughts of those who did not die but came back doomed to years of hardship and suffering, sometimes worse than death, In the p:ppy was found a way to link the honoring of the 'dead with service ser-vice for the living victims of the war. Soon after the war patriotic organizations In (different countries count-ries began to conduct sales of poppies pop-pies made by disabled veterans, to raise funds for relief work among suffering ex-service men and their families. A double significance became be-came attached to the poppy. Wear-ng Wear-ng the little flower came to mean honoring the dead and helping the iving. The poppy also became th memorial mem-orial flower of the British Legion. Other American veterans' organizations organiza-tions fallowed The American Leg-on Leg-on and Aux'liary in adopting It as their official flower of remembrance. remembr-ance. Soon many millions of the ' ttle red flowers were being worn nch year In all parts of the Eng-ish-s'eaking world, to honor the World War dead and to old the war's living victims. |