May is the month of Memorial Day and also the five-day poppy sale for Magic City Post 24 of the American Legion. The rest of the schedule is quite crowded, as well.

The poppy sale will extend from May 20-25. Legion members are asking for volunteers to help them with that task.

It can reportedly be traced to the efforts of one woman, Moina Michael, who, in 1918 was inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields” by Canadian Lt. Col. John McCrae, which John Gallaspy regularly recites during the Post 24 Memorial Day program in Ponemah Cemetery at 6 p.m. This year, U.S. Rep. Dr. Ralph Abraham will be the guest speaker at that event.

The poppy became the official memorial flower of the Legion family in 1920. By 1942, more than 100,000 Americans Legion Auxiliary volunteers distributed 13 million poppies made by veterans.

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson accepted the 20 millionth poppy to launch the Auxiliary’s annual drive.

Next week’s festivities begin with an early visit to the Home for War Veterans in Jackson, Louisiana at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, May 23.

The next day at 2 p.m., the Legion post will perform a program at the Bogalusa Branch Library.

On Sunday, May 27, the men and women of Magic City Post 24 will hold a program at the D.A. Varnado Store Museum in Franklinton at 3 p.m.

And on Memorial Day, May 28, they will do programs throughout Washington Parish, starting in Clifton at 9 a.m., moving to Fisher Church at 10 a.m., to Poole’s Bluff for ceremonies starting at 12:30 p.m., and capping the day in the Veterans’ Plot at Ponemah Cemetery at 6 p.m.