Why Poppies are a Symbol of Remembrance

National Poppy Day in the U.S. is the Friday before Memorial Day. Many will see veterans selling poppies over this Memorial Day weekend. We buy them in memory of the fallen and respect for the service given. There’s a beautiful story behind them.

The American Legion Family recognizes the importance of honoring the fallen and supporting the living who have worn our nation’s uniforms. That is why The American Legion Family has called upon Congress to designate the Friday before Memorial Day as National Poppy Day. (American Legion: source)

HISTORY of the poppy in remembrance:

During the First World War (1914–1918) much of the fighting took place in Western Europe. Previously beautiful countryside was blasted, bombed, and fought over, again and again. The landscape swiftly turned to fields of mud: bleak and barren scenes where little or nothing could grow.

Bright red Flanders poppies (Papaver rhoeas), however, were delicate but resilient flowers and grew in the thousands, flourishing even in the middle of chaos and destruction. In early May 1915, shortly after losing a friend in Ypres, a Canadian doctor, Lt Col John McCrae was inspired by the sight of poppies to write a now-famous poem called ‘In Flanders Fields.

McCrae’s poem inspired an American academic, Moina Michael, to make and sell red silk poppies which were brought to England by a French woman, Anna Guérin. The (Royal) British Legion, formed in 1921, ordered 9 million of these poppies and sold them on 11 November that year. The poppies sold out almost immediately and that first-ever ‘Poppy Appeal’ raised over £106,000; a considerable amount of money at the time. This was used to help WW1 veterans with employment and housing. (British Legion: source)

IN FLANDERS FIELDS – the poem

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.

(this article was first published on my Being Better Humans website.)