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Show Legion Ladies Making Plans For Poppy Day There is a story behind every one of the little red popples which the citizens of Sugar House will wear in honor of the war dead on Saturday, May 25, Each poppy is different and has its own story, explained Mrs. H. S. Davis, president of the Sugar House unit of the American Legion Le-gion auxiliary, which is completing com-pleting preparations for observance observ-ance of Poppy Day here. The poppies have been received re-ceived at American Legion headquarters head-quarters here from the Veterans Hospital where they were made by disabled veterans of both world wars. Mrs. Davis told about them as they were being sorted, counted and made ready for distribution. "As they are made by hand, no two of the flowers are exactly exact-ly alike," she said. "Some come from the hands of men who were hurt 28 years ago in the battles of the first world war. Others have been shaped by young veterans, vet-erans, injured in Europe or in the Pacific in the second conflict, who made poppies this year for the first time. If we could know the stories of all those veterans, old and young, they would make an epic of service and suffering suffer-ing for the security of America. "Making the poppies has two important benefits for the disabled dis-abled veterans," Mrs. Davis continued. con-tinued. "First, it enables them to earn money. The American Legion Auxiliary pays them for every poppy they make. To actually earn some money again is an encouraging experience for these men, after long months of ' helplessness. Most of them send the money home to their fam-; fam-; ilies. "Second, the work is valuable as occupational therapy. It occupies oc-cupies their hands and minds and helps them get well. "I hope every one who puts on a poppy on Poppy Day will look closely at the little flower and think of the men who make the poppies, what they have been through and what they are still enduring because of their war service. Then it will be understood under-stood that the poppy is not just a machine-made tag, but a carefully care-fully shaped symbol of remembrance remem-brance made by the disabled in honor of their departed comrades." |