The origin of the Red Poppy at Memorial Day

   

I remember as a child my family and I would go downtown to the annual parade Memorial Day weekend and I would get handed a wire stemmed felt red poppy usually from the American Legion.  I loved those little flowers.  And I am very sad to admit that I didn't know the meaning behind them until today.  If this is also the case for you, I invite you to read on. 

During World War 1 (1914-1918), the tradition of the red poppy at Memorial Day had it's beginning.    

                                                

This excerpt is taken from a HISTORY.COM article written by BARBARA MARANZANI:

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

"In the spring of 1915, bright red flowers began poking through the battle-ravaged land across northern France and Flanders (northern Belgium). Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, who served as a brigade surgeon for an Allied artillery unit, spotted a cluster of the poppies shortly after serving as a brigade surgeon during the bloody Second Battle of Ypres. The sight of the bright red flowers against the dreary backdrop of war inspired McCrae to pen the poem, "In Flanders Field," in which he gives voice to the soldiers who had been killed in battle and lay buried beneath the poppy-covered grounds. Later that year, a Georgia teacher and volunteer war worker named Moina Michael read the poem in Ladies' Home Journal and wrote her own poem, "We Shall Keep the Faith" to begin a campaign to make the poppy a symbol of tribute to all who died in war. The poppy remains a symbol of remembrance to this day."

Poppies in Flanders Field

The moving poem by Colonel John McCrae follows:

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.

And Moina Michael's follow-up poem reads as follows:

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.

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For those of you who have lost a loved one while in military service, my heart weeps with you.  My deepest appreciation goes out to them for their ultimate sacrifice.

May we never forget what the meaning of this day is about.  Please stay safe this holiday weekend.  Our office will be closed on Monday in observance of Memorial Day and we will reopen bright and early Tuesday morning.

With my warmest smiles,

Dr. Angela Boehler