Palmer has poppies again

To the editor:

“Where are all the old veterans giving away poppies for Memorial Day?” I asked myself two years ago.

As hard as I looked, I could not find an old vet with poppies in Palmer. I did not see anyone wearing a poppy and nobody I asked knew where to get one.

“Doesn’t anybody honor our veterans anymore?” I wondered. “It’s Memorial Day!”

So in order to make sure Palmer-area residents had access to poppies, I joined Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9365 and spent several weekend days before Memorial Day giving out poppies. I am the old veteran now.

Sixty years ago when my father would give a donation to an old vet he would lean down and say to me, “I could be one of the veterans making these.” Even though he had been wounded in the war, he was not confined to a hospital.

As I stood outside on Sunday giving away poppies a number of women stopped to give a donation.

“The disabled veterans and their families thank you,” I would say.

“I’m a veteran,” many of them replied.

One tall young woman said the same and turned to leave.

“Where did you serve, ma’am?” I asked.

“Iraq,” she replied.

“Were you hurt there?” I asked.

She looked at me and nodded, and then slowly limped away.

Handing out poppies this past weekend gave me a lot of time to think about Memorial Day.

I thought about my children’s grandfathers who both died early, far before their time, due to wounds sustained in World War II. I thought about the song, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” I thought about the fact that one of our soldiers may have been killed or wounded at the very moment I handed a poppy to a young girl and her mother.

This is why I was giving out poppies. This was the least I could do for the fallen, the wounded, their families and our country.

Lloyd Smith

Palmer

Editor’s note: Vietnam veteran Lloyd Smith’s Memorial Day poppy giveaway collected more than $1,000 in donations for disabled veterans. Thank you for your service sir and for this effort to remind us why Memorial Day is so important.