The Poppy Lady by Barbara Elizabeth Walsh

Author:Barbara Elizabeth Walsh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Highlights for Children, Inc.
Published: 2016-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

After the end of World War I, Moina Belle Michael poses with soldiers on a ferryboat.

Two days later, World War I ended and Moina returned to her students in Georgia. True to her promise, she wrote letters to leaders around the country, suggesting they adopt the poppy as a national memorial symbol.

But, as she taught returning servicemen, Moina soon realized another purpose for the small flower. Many of the servicemen had no jobs. No money. Some were wounded or too ill to work. Maybe the poppy could also help the veterans and their families.

Her hard work paid off. In 1921, the American Legion Auxiliary adopted the Poppy of Flanders Fields as its memorial flower. Other national and international veterans organizations followed. Disabled veterans who were members of the patriotic groups made crepe-paper poppies, offering them for donations. Pennies, nickels, and dimes poured in.

During the years that followed, the poppies raised millions of dollars in the United States and England to benefit veterans, war widows, and orphans, and the flowers reminded people of soldiers everywhere. To Moina’s delight, the message of the poppies spread to 50 other countries. At last, her dream of helping soldiers was coming true.

For the rest of her life, Moina Belle Michael was known as the “Poppy Lady.” She received citations, awards, and words of praise from around the world. But the Georgia schoolteacher did not feel like a hero.

“What I did, and am doing is no more than any other person would have done,” Moina insisted. “I only thought of it first.”

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