Remembrance Poppy

Zim’s Note: The inspiration for this post came from my trip the grocery store this past weekend. At the entrance to the

store sat a WWII veteran and his wife, both dressed completely in red, white & blue. They were selling crepe-paper poppies for donations on behalf of the local American Legion. After donating and receiving a poppy, we chatted with them for a moment and I  wondered what the meaning was behind the poppy. After a little research, here is the poppy story.

“In Flanders Field”
The use of the poppy as a symbol of fallen soldiers is derived from the poem “In Flanders Field.” On May 3, 1915, Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae wrote the poem after the funeral of a friend who died in the Second Battle of Ypres. The war poem describes of how the red poppies grew over fallen soldiers’ graves. Because of this poem, poppies became the most recognized memorial symbol for soldiers who have died during war.

“In Flanders Field”

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.

The Poppy Lady

On November 9, 1918, Moina Michael, an American professor, was working at the YMCA Overseas War Secretaries’ headquarters during its annual conference in New York. After the poem, “In Flanders Field,” was published in Ladies Home Journal, Michael was moved by the words and vowed to always wear a red poppy. She purchased 25 silk poppies and upon returning to the conference, she pinned one to her coat and distributed the rest among those at the conference. She began to campaign to get the poppy adopted as the national remembrance symbol and became known as the “Poppy Lady.” In 1948, four years after her death, the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp in her memory and listing her as the founder of the memorial poppy.

Inspired by McCrae’s “In Flanders Field,” Michael penned a response poem:

“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.

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.

Buddy Poppy
The first distribution of poppies occurred right before Memorial Day in 1922 by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW). Soon after, the poppy became the official memorial flower of the VFW. A year later, the VFW decided that the poppies should be assembled by disabled or needy veterans, who would also be paid for their work. They nicknamed the poppy, “Buddy Poppy,” and opened up a factory in Pittsburgh to assemble these crepe-paper flowers. In order to secure the authenticity of the Buddy Poppy as genuine products of disabled and needy veterans, the VFW trademarked the “Buddy Poppy” name in 1924. Even to today the majority of Buddy Poppies are made by veterans in VA hospitals. The bulk of the proceeds from the poppy campaigns are retained locally for the rehabilitation and service programs for disabled and needy veterans.

“Buddy Poppy,” VFW website

GeorgiaInfo.edu – Information on Moina Michael & her poem

Archive.org – For John McCrae’s photo & “In Flanders Field” poem