![]() ![]() The American Legion designated the red poppy as its official flower in 1920, and distribution of poppies became a Legion national program in 1924. ![]() She also launched a national letter-writing campaign encouraging others to adopt the poppy. She even planted poppies on what is now UGA’s Health Sciences Campus. Michael taught a class of disabled servicemen and every Monday attended Disabled American Veterans chapter meetings. Photo credit: Tom JacksonĪfter the war, Athens and the University of Georgia became a hub for veteran rehabilitation. Michael, who came to be known worldwide as “The Poppy Lady,” was from the nearby town of Good Hope in Walton County. That stretch of highway is named for Moina Michael, long-time UGA faculty member who developed the idea of using red poppies to support veterans of World War I, and ultimately of all wars. The traditional World War I memorial poppies were planted by the Georgia Department of Transportation in cooperation with the Georgia World War I Centennial Commission. Red poppies are blooming in the median of U.S. She left her office and scoured local flower shops in search of silk poppies to share with businessmen, veterans and soldiers. 9, 1918 - two days before the armistice that ended World War I - she wrote her own reply to McCrae’s poem - entitled “We Shall Keep the Faith” - and decided “always to wear a red poppy of Flanders Fields as a sign of remembrance and emblem of ‘keeping the faith with all who died.'” If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep, though poppies grow in Flanders Fields.'” ![]() “‘To you from failing hands we throw the Torch be yours to hold ir high. ![]() “The last verse transfixed me,” she wrote. John McCrae’s famous poem “In Flanders Fields,” about the war’s devastation. It was while she was working for the war effort in New York that she was struck by a sudden inspiration.Ī young soldier left a copy of Ladies Home Journal on her desk with a marked page containing Lt. “I anguished for some power by which our boys might be saved from gas, bombs shrapnel.”ĭuring the war, Michael volunteered with the National YMCA. “How busy everyone was kept back in those early days responding to and arousing others to respond to the superhuman struggles to win the war,” Michael wrote in her autobiography. She also set up a campaign for the families to write the soldiers while they were overseas. She made sure soldiers were adopted by local families. The nation was fixated on the war, and Michael did everything she could to bring comfort to soldiers awaiting deployment. Michael retired from UGA in 1938 after having worked in education for 54 years.Īfter a harrowing 16-day trip through mine-infested waters and an ocean patrolled by enemy submarines, she returned to the relative quiet of her Athens, Georgia, home - but did not find peace. Moina Michael poses with the Poppy Lady Doll, a replica of her, that won a national doll competition held by the Federation Woman’s Club in 1932. Moina Michael, an education professor from the small Georgia town of Good Hope, was in Germany on the final leg of a European vacation when World War I broke out in 1914 - forcing her to flee to Italy to find a ship that would carry her home. “During her lifetime, if you adjust for inflation, poppy sales raised $3 billion worldwide, most of which went directly to veterans,” said Tom Michael, a great nephew of Moina Michael, who died in 1944. “She championed the poppy as a permanent symbol and reminder of our collective obligation to support our veterans and their families And through all the poppy sales around the world, her legacy of helping veterans lives on.” Now, nearly 100 years and billions of dollars later, the poppy has become the international symbol of remembrance and support for all military veterans, thanks to the tireless efforts of Moina Belle Michael, affectionately known today as “The Poppy Lady.” It began with a simple idea from a University of Georgia professor - sell poppy flowers to raise money on behalf of soldiers killed and injured in World War I. Editor’s Note: This is the first story in a new series, called Georgia Groundbreakers, that celebrates innovative and visionary faculty, students, alumni and leaders throughout the history of the University of Georgia - and their profound, enduring impact on our state, our nation and the world. ![]()
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