Moina Michael Commemorative Stamp

On Nov. 9, 1948, the U.S. Post Office held first-day-of-issue ceremonies in Athens, Ga. for a 3-cent commemorative stamp honoring Moina Michael. The stamp's release came on the 30th anniversary of the day she conceived of the idea of selling poppies to help care for disabled soldiers and their families.

Born in the Walton County community of Good Hope on Aug. 15, 1869, she attended Lucy Cobb Institute and the Georgia State Teachers College--both in Athens--and Columbia University. On Nov. 9, 1918--two days before the armistice was signed ending World War I--Michael was reading the Ladies Home Journal and saw a poem entitled "We Shall Not Sleep" (which was later called "In Flanders Fields") written by Col. John McCrae:

WE SHALL NOT SLEEP

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.

Moved by what she read, Michael took a pen and wrote the following poem in response:

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.

Thus was born the idea of selling memorial poppies to assist disabled veterans and their families. The movement caught on, and for the rest of her life Michael was known as the "Poppy Lady." During her life she received many awards and recognitions. She died in Athens on May 10, 1944. Four years later, the Post Office issued a commemorative stamp in her memory. In 1969, the Georgia General Assembly designated the stretch of U.S. highway 78 between Athens and Monroe as the Moina Michael Highway.

Go to Georgia on Stamps page

Go to GeorgiaInfo table of contents