Milford chronicle., 1933-06-02
AUGUST FAIX TALKED
BEFORE ROTARY CLUB
[Continned trom First Paqel

this day is theirs to laud and keep
The G. A. r. have cherished long
our Decoration Day. Today nearly
all of those heroes sleep in the ST.
lent cities of our dead and for them
a flag is placed ON each ones mound,
for each one has earned a victOr's
crown.
Memorial Day means more than
decorating graves of the departed. IL
is a sacred memory. We are too apt
to forget, so Memorial Day has been
set aside annually by the President
OF our United States as day to re-
member to review the march of
men, the heroic deeds and valor of
those who paid the supreme sacri-
flee that we might enjoy freedom
and the pursuit of happiness. Our
hearts may be stirred at the sound
of bugles or beating drums, and the
noise of tramping feet may be heard
while passing in review but far
greater is the picture of those he
roes falling on the battle fields of
blood, in the Shenandoah Valley and
other Virginia campaigns of the
Civil War. Just think for the mo-
ment the supreme sacrifice made by
those during the World War, re-
viewing in your mind the blood shed
upon the poppy fields of France.
With 60 seconds in minute, and 60
minutes in an hour or 5000 seconds
in an hour, think of it. 5000 men
per hour gave their all, and multiply
this number by 165 days. Are we go
ing to forget? Are we not mindful
of the fact that the peace of today
was made possible by those whose
lives were sacrificed. So let us on
this Memorial Day honor our dead,
carry ON the spirit of democracy
that was gained for us all.
Again our nation has assembled
to honor its heroic dead. A thousand
battles on land and sea echo the
glory of their valiant deeds. Under
the quiet sod, or beneath the MUIR
muring waves, their bodies sleep in
peace, but in the destinies of men,
their souls go marching on. Be-
cause of them our lives are free;
because of them our. nation lives;
because of them, the whole world is
blest.
They fought for us, for us they
fell. Now with one accord, in deep
est reverence, we do them honor.
For their sakes also, let us not for
get the loved ones left behind. Our
tears or words of sympathy cannot
bring back the comfort of those
loving hands or the music of those
voices stilled.
In larger sense Memorial Day
means Poppy Day to the Legion and
the Ladies Auxiliary. POppies, to
most people, are just crumpled ros-
cites of crimson crepe paper to wear
once a year for memory's sake, but
to the man whose thick, stiff. slow
moving fingers have fashioned them,
they are little bright red doors to
the land of opportunity. Their scar
let petals are not mere slips of tis-
sue at all, but gay flags to signal
pennies into their pockets, this work
transforms dragging, bleak hours
into hurrying sunshiny minutes. For
the poppies which the American Le-
gion sells on Poppy Day are made
by disabled veterans who pluck at
these fragments of paper and strips
of wires as drowning men at float
ing timber. In 43 government hospi-
tails and veterans workshops, hun
dreds of soldiers too badly shatter-
ed for heavier work. manufacture
these Memorial blossoms as their
af
pies, you see, instead of being just
little crushed buds of. paper, are
really shining beacons flashing the
way to contentment, self-support,
and self-respect to hundreds of dis
abled veterans and their families,
To us the Poppy is the Holy Grail
of 1917-l91S that caught the sacrifi-
cial blood OF our men. 1t is the sym
Dol of faith with those whose blue
star of service turned to gold when
the loyal blue was touched by the
glorious sacrifice of an unselfish
one. Poppy Day is Mothers Day for
those who gave their priceless trea-
sures of manhood. We will foster
and cherish loyalty and devotion and
look forward with abiding faith to
development. a growing
an unparallel patriotism,
a broader field of service, a greater
in the rightness of our
country and in the days that will be
tomorrow, not only in May, but in
every month we will honor the
dead by serving the living"
The people throughout the length !
and breadth of our country want |
lasting peace for our nation with |
other nations. Certainly no group |
can hate war in the abstract more |
than men and women who have been |
in armed conflict and have seen the |
blinded eyes, rent limbs. scared |
lungs, mangled bodies, shattered |
minds and wrecked souls, and all
its devastation and despair. Can we
as Americans, be militaristic when
the horrors of the world conflict are
so imbedded in the memory of so
many of us. We have seen the ideal
ism fade which called the World
War "a war to end war" We see
now a turbulent world with an
other exposition apparently more
imminent than was the one in 1914.
Peace movements have failed before
The onrush of military activities.
Selfishness, avarice, greed and hate,
he cowardly sires of war, are up
in most minds in some of
he countries ON the continents of
Europe and Asia. Wars today cannot
10 confined TO one locality. They are
ike burning oil, and, if another
great conflict should burst forth,
Who knows but that America might