Crosslake and Fifty Lakes to mark Poppy Days May 13-14

CROSSLAKE -- Poppy Days, a national memorial to the war dead, will be May 13 and 14 in Crosslake and Fifty Lakes.

Crosslake Mayor Jay Andolshek received the first poppy at the April 11 city council meeting from the poppy chairman.

Disabled veterans make the poppies in hospitals and workshops to support their families and to combat long hours in hospital wards. The poppy grew in the battlefields of France and Belgium where American servicemen fell during two world wars. In the years after World War I, the poppy came to be recognized as the American Legion's and Auxiliary's official memorial flower.

Money dropped into contribution boxes is devoted to rehabilitation and assistance for veterans and their families.