Milford chronicle., 1932-05-06
POPPY ESSAY WON
BY JEAN GRER
And W.LANKFORD
Mary Webb And Harvey
Willis Merit Honorable
Mention.

At the close of the Poppy Essay
Contest recently held in the sixth
grade two first prizes of two dollars
and fifty cents each, and likewise
two honorable mentions, to a boy
and a girl each, were announced by
the board of judges who were: S. N.
Hammond, Mrs. Anthony Summers
and DR.. +. B. Short. The prizes
awarded by the American Legion
and Auxiliary went to Jean Grier
and Wilmer Lankford, both of Mrs.
Derrickson's room. Honorable men
tion was won by Mary Webb of Mrs.
Rogers room and Harvey Willis of
Miss Kitchens room.
The prize winning essays are re-
printed below:
Jean Grier
"The Story OF the Poppy"
Every year on the Saturday before
Memorial Day, millions of Ameri-
cans sell and wear the little red
pOppies in memory of the dead sol
diers who fought for us over in the
battleiields of France during the
World War in 1917 and 1918.
When our soldiers came back af-
ter the war was over, they would
not tell their terrible experiences
over there, but they did tell about
the pleasant things they saw. One of
these was the large fields of red pop
pies which grew everywhere in the
fields of France and Belgium.
In the Spring of 1917 when the
American soldiers entered the war,
large armies were facing one an
other. AS the soldiers struggled
along across the fields and villages,
which were torn to pieces by gun
shells, and over the hills where dead
and wounded could be seen every
where, there was always that one
touch more in life, which was the
poppy They grew everywhere like
daisies do in this country. They
were seen covering the graves and
the hills of the battlefields.
Those soldiers, who were wounded
and crippled, were brought back
here and placed in our government
hospitals Many of these will always !
suffer from pain and can only wait
to die for relief. Others will always !
be cripples.
The soldiers in the hospitals make |
these red pOppies which are sold and |
worn. All the money gotten from the
pOppies which are sold, is given to
help these invalid soldiers and their
families.
Wilmer LankfOrd
''The Story OF the Poppy"
II has been said that in the fields |
of Flanders where the fighting was
thickest and the most blood was
shed in the Great War the pOppies
grow thicker and more crimson,
thus making a memorial to the dead.
Because of this the American Leg
ion has chosen the poppy for the
flower which the disabled veterans
and their families make. To some
the making of the poppies is the
only way they have of making mon
ey to try to support their families
and themselves.
In the spring of every year since
the war the American Legion and
the American Legion Auxiliary have
joined to sell these little red and
green pOppies.
1t is our duty to buy as many as
we can afford of the pOppies and to
help those who willingly gave their
arms, legs, eyes, also those who suf-
fered shell-shock and other things
for the country they loved. Some of
the men, who were wounded or dis
abled, are unemployed. They are
willing to work but there is no work
10 be found except odd jobs and the
of the poppies.
So when anyone approaches you
with pOppies to sell, buy them. They
will be in stores. buy them there,
buy them anywhere they are to be
'ound.