Remembering Those Brave Souls Behind the Poppies

Column ideas can come from unlikely sources. This one originated on a grocery sack.

That was all Guy Carrozzo had to write on as he sat outside a supermarket in Fountain Valley and watched people pretend he wasn’t there. He sat, and sat some more, and his frustration grew, and so he went inside the store and took a paper bag and began writing:

* It is 9 a.m. on a clear crisp morning. There are two entrances to this market, and it is interesting to watch people get out of their cars and walk to the farthest entrance just so they won’t have to pass by me. In a sense, I don’t blame them. It seems we are constantly confronted by individuals asking for money for one cause or another.

* Carrozzo is a 63-year-old Korean War veteran. He pulled four years in the Air Force--two of them on Okinawa--but saw no combat. On the day he began writing on the paper bag, he was collecting donations for the Veterans of Foreign Wars--not so much for himself but for all the veterans whose stories were much more awful and life-changing than his.

We’ve all seen people like Carrozzo, ringing their bells for donations or asking us for a contribution. And just as he observed and felt compelled to write about, we often avoid them.

* Let me tell you about my small table and what we stand for. We are collecting money for the VFW Buddy Poppy Drive. These are American veterans who served our country in foreign lands. These are men and women who gave their full measure of devotion to their country--your country and the laws, goals and way of life that you believe in. And, yes, some gave the ultimate full measure of devotion with their precious life. We are collecting to help the needy and disabled veterans and the widows and orphans of deceased veterans.

* For what it’s worth, Carrozzo is a Fountain Valley councilman and current mayor. I asked him last week if he thought people are too wary these days to donate.

“I don’t think they’ve gotten hardened,” he says. “I think it’s just a new generation who’s never been exposed to it (the vets’ situation). This is ancient history to some teen-agers.”

Carrozzo says he joined the poppy drive out of respect for vets. “I’m no hero of anything. I just happened to be overseas for a period of time. Some of the guys in VFW have been through hell and back. I feel funny being in the same organization. When I hear some of the things they did, it practically brings tears to my eyes.”

* We look to the soldier in time of war. We rally around them when the enemy is real. We pat them on the back when they ship out for overseas duty. But when the enemy is defeated and the soldier comes home, possibly physically and emotionally destroyed or not at all, where are we when it comes to helping that soldier and their family?

* Carrozzo isn’t angry at those of us who pass him by. He knows that there are plenty of scams out there. “I understand why people don’t give,” he says. “People get bombarded, and I don’t think people know what the VFW really means. I think they look at some of these people outside other stores, and they’re not VFW or American Legion, and people sometimes wonder where the money is going.”

The poppy drive can be traced to John McCrae’s poem, “In Flanders Field,” in which he wrote about the war then raging in Europe:

In Flanders Field, the poppies grow,

Between the crosses, row by row.

It was just about a year ago when Carrozzo put his thoughts down on the grocery sack. He kept the sack for several months, he says, and then expanded on what he had begun that day. He’s thinking of reading his composition one of these days at a council meeting.

In the meantime, another poppy drive will be held the three days after Memorial Day. Five stores will be sites in Carrozzo’s town, and, doubtless, others throughout Orange County.

Because it’s human nature, some of us will go out of our way to avoid the solicitors. Or, we’ll feel guilty if we don’t drop a quarter in the bucket. Or, we’ll wonder if it’s on the level.

But Carrozzo doesn’t want us to feel uncomfortable or guilty or suspicious.

He just wants us to remember.

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.