Tikumu’s letter

Press, 22 April 1980, Page 18

Tikumu’s letter

Dear Readers, For many years school children have been helping the New Zealand Returned Services Association (R.S.A.), by selling poppies about two weeks before Anzac Day, which is observed on April 25. The R.S.A. is a large organisation, but many of its members are not able to collect because of war injuries and ill-health. The help given by schools means a lot to the association.

Returned servicemen work throughout the year making the poppies for the annual appeal, which is usually held on the Friday before Anzac Day. Most of the money raised in the appeal is used for the welfare of former ‘ servicemen, or their dependents. • In the years following the end of World War II in 1945, a large amount of money was. needed to help widows and children of former servicemen, as well as the families of returned men who for a variety of

reasons were not able to resume full-time occupations.

Now the children of the 1940 s and 1950 s are parents themselves, and the areas of need have changed, but need still exists.

The day of the R.S.A. appeal has come to be known as “Poppy Day.” It was held last Friday. This week many of you will be asked to take a* small donation - fo school, and in return for this you will be given a poppy ticket to pin on to your jacket or jersey.

The bright red poppy has become a symbol of Anzac Day, a day of remembrance which has deep meaning for many of your grandparents’ generation, and older people.

However, the poppy is really associated with World War I when the allied troops were fighting in Europe. Of the many poems written during that war, one by a Canadian officer, John Macrea, is well-re-membered because of the

message it held for the men who lived to fight on. The poet w r as serving in northern Europe with a medical corps. He was a doctor of medicine in civilian life. The poem is called “In Flanders Fields,” and it is about the poppies growing over the war graves. The message in the last lines is one that may be read as a challenge for the future: “. . . To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders’ fields. The verse has meaning for people of all ages, and the challenge is to carry the torch for peace and world friendship. One way we can do this is by following the example of the soldiers who sang, “Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile.” Tikumu