Show Poppy parade set for Saturday by Auxiliary group On May all of us will be asked to wear a red memorial As most of you certainly once each year observe Poppy Day which is a voluntary tribute to our dead and disabled By accepting one of these poppies from a member of the American Legion Auxiliary or some other volunteer we aid the living victims of the past three wars while honoring our The poppy grew in the battlefields of France and Belgium where American service men have fallen during two World In the years following the first World War the poppy came to be recognized as nature's tribute to the war and it was soon adopted as the Legion and Auxiliary's official memorial flower The you will wear on Poppy Day have an even greater significance than the flowers which bloomed on the battlefields of These memorial poppies you will be offered have been made in hospitals and work shops where the suffering of war still The disabled Veterans who make these flowers are able to gain a dual benefit from their work the poppy program gives many men their only opportunity to support themselves and their and it offers them a productive pastime with which to combat long hours in the hospital wards Volunteers who offer the poppies to the public unlike the disabled veterans receive nothing tangible for their these workers gain satisfaction from their contribution to a program which honors the war dead while assisting the Money dropped into contribution boxes in exchange for poppies goes directly to the welfare activities of The American Legion and all funds are used for the aid of disabled their and the families of deceased Understanding the character purpose of would any of us wish to ignore tills T am sine rill of us will consider it a privilege wear a poppy again this year on Poppy |