Poppies
Hedy served as secretary for the American Legion Post in Columbia, SC for many years. In addition she was active in the American Legion Auxiliary. She and her lady friends would sell poppies in order to raise money for veteran causes.
When you wear a poppy, you are reminding everyone what our veterans have sacrificed and continue to sacrifice for us.
Here is the story in a BBC News article about how the poppies were first sold in support of veterans. In 1918 a lady read this inspiring poem in a Ladies Home Journal Magazine.
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
John McCrae 1915
In honor of our Veterans and all who support them
Veterans Day, November 11, 2009
I remember her telling this poem too. Great post.