Why We Wear The Poppy May 23

NO SURNAMES

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes
Date: 5/11/2013 at 16:57:33

The Grinnell (IA) Herald
May 19, 1931

WHY WE WEAR
THE POPPY MAY 23

On Saturday, May 23rd, millions of Americans will wear the blood-red poppy of Flanders Fields in memory of those gallant American boys who sacrificed their lives in the World War. I hope that every one of you will wear a poppy on that day, for in no more fitting way can we give expression to the honor in which we hold those men who died that American ideals might live. I hope, too, that under every breast which bears a poppy will beat a heart which understands the beautiful symbolism of the little flower.

The wearing of the poppy is no empty form. It is no idea developed in the mind of any man and pushed to public acceptance by clever promotion. The idea of wearing the poppy in memory of the World War dead sprang up as naturally as the little wild poppy grows in the fields of France and Belgium. It took root spontaneously in England, Canada, France and many other parts of the world as well as in the United States, until the flower became the almost universally recognized symbol of World War sacrifice.