21023 Farmington Rd   Farmington Hills, Michigan 48336



We Shall Keep The Faith


Oh! You who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet - to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.


We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.


And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.


~ Moina B. Michael 1918


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More Items of Interest


Preamble to the Constitution of the American Legion


For God and Country we associate ourselves together for the following purposes:
to uphold and defend the Constitution of The United States of America;
to maintain law and order;
to foster and perpetuate a one hundred percent Americanism;
to preserve the memories and incidents of our associations in all wars;
to inculcate a sense of individual obligation to the community, state and nation;
to combat the autocracy of both the classes and the masses;
to make right the master of might;
to promote peace and goodwill on earth;
to safeguard and transmit to posterity the principles of justice, freedom and democracy;
to consecrate and sanctify our comradeship by our devotion to mutual helpfulness
.


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American Legion Post 346


Farewell My Comrade

Yea, fair the battle has been met
And lo, with heavy heart, or song
We tip the chalice of regret
For another comrade now has gone.


You took life’s gauntlet, hard cast down
And charged naively to the fray
But alas, the phalanx was too strong
And time too short along the way.


So, with battered shield and bitten sword
Ravished - blow by weary blow
Wave feebly to the marching horde
Then close your eyes, and let them go.


You marched with us along life’s course
Then, stepped aside and left the throng
And - you waved your battered, bitten sword
Then weary - laid your armour down.


So now, your time with us is done
And we salute you - one by one.


~ Jay Farrell (1924 - 1987)
Post 346 Life Member
(Reprinted here with permission)

The Poppy Story

In Flanders Fields


In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
 
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.


Take up our quarrel with the foe:
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.


~ Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae 1915



The American Legion Poppy Program was started by the Auxiliary in 1921. During "Poppy Days" each May, millions of red crepe paper poppies - most handmade by veterans - are distributed across the country in exchange for donations that go directly to assist veterans in need and their families in our communities. The poppy, as a memorial flower to the war dead, can be traced to a single individual, Moina B. Michael (1869-1944). She was so moved by Lt. Col. McCrae's poem, "In Flanders Fields" that she responded by writing a poem of her own, "We Shall Keep The Faith." After WWI ended, her tireless efforts on behalf of disabled servicemen resulted in the poppy being​ adopted as a national symbol of remembrance for war veterans by the American LegionKnown as the "Poppy Lady" for her humanitarian efforts, she exemplified the Auxiliary motto of "Service Not Self."