Moina Michael was already a very unique woman for 1918 when she saw the poem we know as "In Flanders Field". She picked up a copy of the Ladies Home Journal in November at the YMCA where she was volunteering during the war. Soldiers and sailors were going to and from the overseas battlegrounds of WW1 through the Port of New York. They used the YMCA for rest and relaxation, to get a quick meal, and as a meeting place for family. Moina's reading of this poem would provide the spark for a worldwide symbol of remembrance.

Moina had fled the war in Europe herself. She was in Germany when the war broke out and hurriedly traveled to Rome where she assisted other Americans in evacuating Europe and then took a 16-day ocean voyage back home. She had begun her career as a teacher at age 15 and progressed to being a school principal, but moved on to become a professor at the University of Georgia after this return from Europe. It was very unusual for a woman to be a professor at that time. She had taken a leave of absence to help with the war effort and it was that work that brought her to New York.

The original poem (In Flanders Fields) by John McCrea caught Moina's imagination as did his story. Lieutenant Colonel McCrea, a poet as well as a Canadian Army gunner and medical officer, wrote the poem during May 1915 in honor of a friend who was killed in combat.

After thinking of the original story of Flanders Field and the young men lost in Europe, Moina decided to always wear a poppy in remembrance of the military men who died in what was then called the Great War. She even wrote a poem in response to LTC McCrea's poem. When she returned to teaching in Georgia after the war, she taught disabled veterans and realized they still needed the support of the American people. She began selling red silk poppies to raise funds for the occupational and financial needs of wounded veterans. The American Legion embraced her cause and adopted the red poppy in remembrance of those who died in battle.

Before her death in 1944, she wrote an autobiography called "The Miracle Flower" and she has been honored by many diverse organizations for her work on behalf of veterans. She is

American Legion Auxiliary members of Shelby Unit 82 will be distributing poppies on the corner near Shelby Café on the Saturday before Memorial Day, May 28, from 8 a.m., until noon. Please stop by to obtain your own little red remembrance poppy this year.

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,

Sleep sweet - to rise anew!

We caught the torch you threw

And holding high, we keep the Faith

With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red

That grows on fields where valor led;

It seems to signal to the skies

That blood of heroes never dies,

But lends a lustre to the red

Of the flower that blooms above the dead

In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red

We wear in honor of our dead.

Fear not that ye have died for naught;

We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought

In Flanders Fields.

Moina Michael - 1918