Poppy Campaign: Lest We Forget

Do you know how did the poppy become associated with Nov 11th?  A writer first made the connection between the poppy and battlefield deaths during the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th century.  He noticed that the fields that were infertile before battle blossomed with poppies after the conflict ceased.

One of the missions of the Royal Canadian Legion is to serve veterans, and to promote remembrance. The major source of funding for the Legion to accomplish its mission is the annual Poppy Campaign.

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Volunteers Needed! Click the thumbnail to the left for a full-page PDF file.  The Cranbrook Legion needs volunteers to run a successful poppy campaign. We need YOU.  Print the form and fill it out, and deliver it to any member of the Executive, or take it to the Office. Your support is truly appreciated.  Red below for more information about the history of the poppy and how it got its significance.  Thank you for your support.

The History of the Poppy: In Flanders Fields
(Credit: Wikipedia)

"In Flanders Fields" is a war poem in the form of a rondeau, written during the First World War by Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres. According to legend, fellow soldiers retrieved the poem after McCrae, initially unsatisfied with his work, discarded it. "In Flanders Fields" was first published on December 8 of that year in the London-based magazine Punch.

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.

It is one of the most popular and most quoted poems from the war. As a result of its immediate popularity, parts of the poem were used in propaganda efforts and appeals to recruit soldiers and raise money selling war bonds. Its references to the red poppies that grew over the graves of fallen soldiers resulted in the remembrance poppy becoming one of the world's most recognized memorial symbols for soldiers who have died in conflict. The poem and poppy are prominent Remembrance Day symbols throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, particularly in Canada, where "In Flanders Fields" is one of the nation's best known literary works.

The red poppies that McCrae referred to had been associated with war since the Napoleonic Wars when a writer of that time first noted how the poppies grew over the graves of soldiers. The damage done to the landscape in Flanders during the battle greatly increased the lime content in the soil, leaving the poppy as one of the few plants able to grow in the region.

Inspired by "In Flanders Fields", American professor Moina Michael resolved at the war's conclusion in 1918 to wear a red poppy year-round to honour the soldiers who died in the war. Additionally, she wrote a poem in response called "We Shall Keep the Faith". She distributed silk poppies to her peers and campaigned to have it adopted as an official symbol of remembrance by the American Legion.

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