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Show AUXILIARY READY FOR POPPY DRIVE ALL ASKED TO AID "When can we make more poppies?" pop-pies?" This is the question being asked of the American Legion Auxiliary Auxil-iary by disabled World War veterans who are now completing the manufacture manufac-ture of 10,000,000 memorial poppies for the Auxiliary's annual poppy sale, May 23. What the poppy work means to the disabled men can only be realized by visiting one of the government hospitals hospit-als or convalescent workrooms main-taineel main-taineel by the Auxiliary where the poppies are being made. The work puts new life and hope into these men, most of whom have been confined to I hospitals for months or have been j searching hopelessly for work which; they could do in their weakened con-' dition. Making poppies means that they can again contribute to the support sup-port of their families and have money of their own earning in their pockets once more. More than 25,000 new names will be on the scroll of America's dead defenders de-fenders when the country pauses on ; Memorial Day this year to honor the ' men who gave their lives in its service. ser-vice. During the past year veterans of the World War have been dieing at the rate of 70 a day, meaning that more than 25,000 have passed on since last Memorial Day. This heavy death rate among the ' World War veterans places a steadily increasing burden on the American Legion and Auxiliary." Almost every veteran who dies now leaves a widow and children and unless legal proof can be established that the death resulted re-sulted from war service no government govern-ment compensation is available for the family. The Legion and Auxiliary-must Auxiliary-must step in with emergency aid until other aid can be found or the family placed on a self-supporting basis. But the work for the families of the dead is only a part of the Legion and Auxiliary's program. They endeavor en-deavor to do something for the veterans veter-ans who are still alive and within the reach of their help." The nvoney to finance this vast work comes largely from the little rre( memorial poppy which the Auxiliary Unit will sell on the streets here Saturday, Sat-urday, May 23, as part of the nationwide nation-wide observance of Poppy Day. The poppies are paper replicas of the wild European poppies which bloomed on the battle fields in France and Belgium during the World War. It was this flower, growing between I the rows of wooden crosses above I fresh battle graves, which inspired the : famous poem, "In Flanders Fields," i by Col. John McCrea. Since the war I the flower has become recognizee! throughout the wold as the symbol of I (Continued on Page Four) AUXILIARY READY FOR POPPY DRIVE ALL ASKED TO AID (Continued from page one) war sacrifice. The women of fhe American Legion Auxiliary who will be on the streets with the poppies on Poppy Day, in reality do not sell the flowers. They offer the poppies to everyone who wishes to honor the dead in exchange for a contribution to help the living. No price is fixed for those little flowers flow-ers shaped by the patient hands of disabled veterans. And every penny of the money which goes into those coin boxes will come out in service to needy disabled men and their families during the coming year. The label, which is secured to the stem of every poppy, bears on one side the words, "In Memoriam," and the official emblem of the American Legion Le-gion and the American Legion Auxiliary. Auxil-iary. On the other side it carries the names of the two organizations and the words, "Veteran Made Poppy." No poppy which does not bear this label is the official poppy of the Legion Le-gion and Auxiliary. The label gives assurance that the vast organization of the Legion and Auxiliary stands behind the poppy, vouches that the flower is veteran made and pledges that the best possible use will be made of the money paid for the flower. Will America remember its heroic dead and will its heart be reached by the plight of its living war victims? The answer will be written in bright red poppies on the streets of every city and town in the country on Saturday. Satur-day. A poppy worn above the heart will mean remembrance and generosity. |