To the Editor:
“They gave; will you?” The VFW will be out distributing the Buddy Poppy to the public in exchange for donations to help veterans who have fought for our freedom.
On May 25-30; July 1-4; and Nov. 7-13, the VFW Post 2750 and auxiliary will be out with the “buddy” poppy. The program provides multiple benefits to the veterans and to the community. The hospitalized veterans who make the flowers are able to earn a small wage, which helps them be more self-sufficient. The physical and mental activity provides many therapeutic benefits as well. Donations are used to assist and support veterans and their families. The poppy also reminds the community of the past sacrifices and continuing needs of our veterans. The poppy has become a nationally known and recognized symbol of sacrifice and is worn to honor the men and women who died for their country in all wars.
A brief history of the artificial poppy: In the WWI battlefields of Belgium, poppies grew wind amid the ravaged landscape. How could such a pretty little flower grow wild while surrounded by death and destruction? The overturned soils of battle enabled the poppy seeds to be covered, thus allowing them to grow and to forever serve as a reminder of the bloodshed during that and future wars.
The poppy movement was inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields” written by Lt. Colonel John McCrae of the Canadian forces in 1915 before the United States entered World War I. Selling replicas of the original Flanders’ Poppy originated in some of the allied countries immediately after the Armistice.
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Martin J. Christensen, Quartermaster
VFW Post 2750
Mitchell
The Trust Project
