Tidbits, May 24

This weekend marks the unofficial start to summer, with high school graduations right around the corner. Look for details on the commencement ceremonies for Bridgeport, Pateros, Mansfield and Brewster in next week's edition.

Poppies for veterans' aid

Heidi Caswell, a member of the American Legion Auxiliary in Brewster, has shared an historical account of how red poppies came to be a tribute of fallen soldiers. The national Auxiliary website states the Poppy Program has been done every year since 1921:

"On Memorial Day and Veterans Day, millions of red crepe paper poppies-all handmade by veterans as part of their therapeutic rehabilitation-are distributed across this country in exchange for donations that go directly to assist disabled and hospitalized veterans in our communities.

"The financial benefit realized by our nation's veterans as a result of poppy distribution is huge; nearly 3.5 million poppies were distributed by units last year, raising $2.1 million.

"This poppy, as a memorial flower to the war dead, can be traced to a single individual, Miss Moina Michael. She was so moved by Lt. Col. McCrae's poem, 'In Flanders Fields,' that she wrote a response:

'...the blood of heroes never dies

But lends a luster to the red

Of the flower that blooms above the dead

In Flanders' Fields.'"

In November of 1918, Michael bought some poppies and passed them around to businessmen at her workplace in New York City, asking them to wear the poppy as a tribute.

This day in history - May 24

1543: Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus died in what is now Frombork, Poland. The father of modern astronomy, he was the first modern European scientist to propose that Earth and other planets revolve around the sun.

1607: Captain Christopher Newport and 105 followers founded the colony of Jamestown on the coast of Virginia.

1775: John Hancock was elected president of the Second Continental Congress. Hancock is best known for his large signature on the Declaration of Independence, which he joked the British could read without spectacles.

1844: Samuel Morse transmitted the first telegraph message, in which he asked, "What hath God wrought?"

1935: Major League Baseball's first night game was played under the lights at Cincinnati's Crosley Field as the hometown Reds defeated Philadelphia, 2-1.

1961: The Freedom Riders were arrested in Jackson, Miss.

To submit items for Tidbits, e-mail Jennifer at reporter2@qcherald.com or call the Herald office at 689-2507.