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Show AMERICAN LEGION (Copy for This Department Supplied by the American IKion News Service.) POEM BY DISABLED VETERAN Member of Prescott (Ariz.) Post Makea Appeal to Buddies to Become Legionnaires. Inspired by patriotic addresses made at a recent meeting of the Earnest A. Love post of the American Legion In Prescott, Ariz., Robert Lee Beveridge, a disabled veteran, found that he was unable to sleep when he returned to the hospital following the meeting. Thinking of the Legion's appeal to men who fought together during the World war, the feelings of Beveridge crystallized Into a poem which was read for the first time by Mrs. Harry T. Southworth, Arizona national executive ex-ecutive commltteewomaa of the American Amer-ican Legion Auxiliary, at a recent meeting In Prescott addressed by Al-rin Al-rin Owsley, national commander of the American Legion. The disabled, man's poeia follows : Say, Bud. have you jolne the Legrion yet? Now don't get angry and swear. For we never can be pure strangers, you know. For look at the memories we share. , So I'm asking you, have you Joined up yet You ought from that button you wear. There's a fight ahead and you ought to be An American Legionnaire. You're a comrade of mine and I lovs you. Bud. Remember the gas alarm And the O. D. shirt That was caked with dirt And served as a cootie farm, How we used to think in our careless way That taps was a sweet goodnight Till, with heads bowed down. We heard taps sound At the burial after the flghtT Are you putting your shoulders to th wheel, And shoving with all your might To finish the fight you began in France, Or have you steered clear of the fight? Have you forgotten Belleau, St Mihlel and Argonne And your buddies you left over there, your crippled chums who are needing need-ing you now Come on, be a Legionnaire. r Du're a comrade of mine, for haven't we fought On Flanders Field of France And ducked our head To the scream of lead, r checked the Germans' advance? We've tightened our belts a notch or two Then over the" top we've strode, With a Yankee grin On a stubborn chin. Or hiked down a shell-torn road. Of course you belong1 to the Legion, man. Your service has won you It. There's no one can take it away from you. But you haven't been working at it. It's a duty you owe to the fallen slain That you cannot shirk or share; It's to fight the fight as you used to flght As a militant Legionnaire. |