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Show Poppy Campaign Set By Auxiliary For Jay 29th The poppy, that little red flower : from "among the crosses row on ; row", which Americans wear each j year to honor the World war dead, . has become an important means of 'alleviating the suffering resulting ! from the war, according to Mrs. Mary Nichols, active worker in the ! Milford American Legion Auxil-I Auxil-I ary, who is helping with arrange-i arrange-i ments for observance of Poppy iday in Milford, Saturday, May 29. From the poppy each year the American Legion Auxiliary raises approximately $1,000,000 for the relief and rehabilitation of 'dis- ; ailed veterans and for the care of; fatherless children of veterans, Mrs. Nichols explains. This money ' forms the principal support of the ! : vast rehabilitation and child wel-. fare program carried out constant-, ly by the Auxiliary in cooperation with the American Legion. ' Women in almost every city and ; town in the United States take: part in the memorial poppy program. pro-gram. The American Legion Arxi-i liary, with its 425,000 members1 and 9,000 local units, sponsors the ; work, aided by women and girls from other groups. Last y'ear : nearly 10,000,000 of the little i flowers were distributed and this! year the number is expected to in-j crease to 12,000,000. ! Benefits to the disabled veterans ' begin long in advance of the dis- i tribution of the poppies on Poppy ; day. Many hundreds receive em- j ployment in making the millions I of little crepe paper flowers, i Manufacture is started early in the' winter and continued through the I spring. This year poppies were j made for the Auxiliary in 65 veteran's vet-eran's hospitals and poppy workrooms work-rooms located in 40 different states. Making of the poppies is directed direct-ed by the state organizations of the Auxiliary and coordinated through the national organization. One cent apiece is the usual price paid the disabled men for making the flowers. The number each man is permitted to make in one j day is limited to prevent overtax-: ing of strength and to spread the work among as many men as pos-! sible. The work is a Godsend to the veterans employed, who receive re-ceive little or no government compensation, com-pensation, meaning an opportunity to help support their families or j to save a little money for the day when they leave the hospital and ! begin the difficult struggle to j make a fresh start in life. j The mental diversion of making j the poppies has been found an excellent ex-cellent way to steady the nerves I and occupy the minds of hospital j patients. The comforting thought ' 1 (Continued on last page) j Poppy Campaign (Continued from first page) that they are earning- money again, often for the first time in years, is of tremendous value to many of these men. Pride of workmanship is taken, with the knowledge that, the flowers are to be worn in honor of comrades who died in France. The idea of the poppy as the memorial flower for the World war dead sprang from Colonel John McCrea's poem, "Flanders Fields", written at the battle front shortly before his death. It was first brought forward in the United States by Miss Moina Michael, of Athens, Georgia, who . was serving on the staff of the Y. M. C. A. overseas headquarters in New York City. On Novemher 9, 1918, after reading Colonel McCrea's Mc-Crea's poem, Miss Michael 'bought and distributed silk poppies to the men attending a Y. M. C. A. conference, con-ference, i After the Armistice the poppy idea spread rapidly. Poppies were distributed on the streets of Milwaukee Mil-waukee during the homecoming of the 32nd division in June, 1919, ; end again on Memorial day .of 1920. In August, 1920, the Georgia department of the American Le-, gion adopted the poppy as a me-m.ni.i: me-m.ni.i: ilower, and the national c. n.!::'.i-n of the Legion in Cleveland Cleve-land the following month made the po p the Legion's national me-nioiia! me-nioiia! flower. The American Legion Le-gion Auxiliary officially adopted tin- jn.ppy as its memorial flower at i'.s first national convention in Kai. as City in 1921. The poppy is also the memorial flower of the British Legion. |