Poppy Day Wednesday

Dear Editor,

May 12, 12 noon, Danbury American Legion Auxiliary will have an annual Poppy Day dinner at the Main Street Community Center. The public is invited.

Each and every one of us needs a reminder of what the symbol of the Poppy means to our veterans.

1. In the spring of 1919, amidst complete devastation the poppies bloomed in abundance on the battlefields of France where so many of our soldiers had fallen in battle.

2. The American Legion was the first national organization to adopt the poppy as its memorial flower at their convention in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1920.

3. The American Legion Auxiliary adopted the poppy as its symbol in 1921 at its organizational convention in Kansas City.

4. The Memorial Poppies are made of red crepe paper by hand. They are made by very disabled veterans confined to vets' hospitals. There are hospitals and veterans homes workrooms in 40 states. The veterans receive pay for each poppy they make. The materials are furnished free by the department in the state where the hospital is located. Wounded hands find it difficult to make very many poppies to help supplement their income, to help their families.

5. More than 25,000,000 poppies made entirely by disables veterans are distributed on the streets, at dinners, etc. under the supervision of the American Legion Auxiliary by approximately 125,000 volunteer workers.

6. The Poppy Program distributes more than $300,000 annually to disabled servicemen and women for making the poppies. This amount of money must grow to a bigger amount because of the terrible influx of wounded from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

7. Not only are disabled veterans paid for making the poppies, the American Legion Auxiliary oversees the distribution of $2 million, of which every penny goes to veterans affairs and rehabilitation for need veterans and families.

8. The public is given the opportunity each year to help the great work of the American Legion Auxiliary, as well as pay tribute to our wounded veterans.

9. So give your donation for your poppy and think of the disabled veteran who made your poppy and give generously

Patsy Lee Redfern,

Red Willow County American Legion Auxiliary President

Bartley