Buy a poppy & honor a vet

By Judith Pannebaker

In honor of Memorial Day, members of the Lakehills American Legion Post 410 Auxiliary will offer traditional poppies from 9 am until noon, Saturday, May 23, at the intersection of Park Road 37 and FM 1283.

In addition, the auxiliary will hold a Memorial Day Service at 10 am, Monday, May 25, at the American Legion Post, 147 26th Street, in Lakehills. They invited everyone to drop by for coffee, donuts and fellowship.

Each year, the poppies distributed by the auxiliary serve as an emblem of faith kept with all who died while serving their county.

According to Evie Angell, poppy sale chairman, 100 percent of the poppy donations support programs of the Veterans Administration. As part of their rehabilitation and therapy programs, disabled and low-income veterans create the poppies. To assist them financially, the men and women are paid a small fee for each poppy made. Each year, those assembling the poppies earn more than $300,000.

The tradition came out of the spring of 1919 when, in the middle of devastation of World War I, the battlefields of France were suddenly covered with abundantly blooming poppies.

In his poem, “In Flanders Fields,” Lt. Col. John McCrae, MD of the Canadian Army (1872-1918) immortalized the flowers that grew in great profusion on fields in Flanders where war casualties had been buried. McCrae’s poem can be found on page 1B of the Courier.

Due to McCrae’s poem, the poppy became a symbol of Remembrance Day in Canada and Memorial Day in the United States.

In October 1921, the American Legion Auxiliary adopted the poppy as its Memorial Flower at an organizing convention in Kansas City. At that time, the auxiliary also pledged that 100 percent of the profits from poppy distribution to welfare relief for service men and women and their families.

“We ask that everyone wear a poppy to remember our veterans. Auxiliary members thank everyone who helps,” Angell said.