of Veterans and poppies.....



Today is Memorial Day.  A day when we Americans, have set aside a day to honor our soldiers who have given their lives for this country. What started out in the 1800's, as a day that a group of women would simply lay flowers on the graves of Civil War fallen soldiers, has become such a myriad of other activities, that we tend to overlook the simplicity of the holiday.  There is a long tradition associated with this holiday and Veterans' Day, that goes largely unnoticed in these busy times.  A table is set up outside the supermarket or big box store, with a veteran sitting in a chair at the table, taking donations in exchange for a paper poppy.  We have hurried past the table many times, hopefully donating.  We understand the reason for the veteran sitting there, but have you ever wondered why the poppies?

Flanders poppy, Papaver rhoes, have carpeted Flanders field in France since at least the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, when soldiers first noticed the abundance of poppies springing from the battlefields.  Ironically it was the tremendous bombardments that created the conditions of the flowers to thrive.  One hundred years later, during WWI, as war raged across the fields of Belgium and Northern France, soldiers again noticed the abundance of poppies growing out of the desolation.  The red of the poppies symbolized the blood of the fallen soldiers.

Dr. John McCrae.  A 43 year old Canadian who was also a veteran of the South African War, was attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade as a field surgeon and was assigned to the line at Ypres in April 1915.  For days on end, with little sleep, he treated the wounded soldiers.  After the death of his friend Alexis Helmer, McCrae wrote on a piece of scrap paper one of the best known wartime poems.

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 your 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 Field.

Three years had passed and with just two days before Armistice Day on November 11th, Miss Moina Michael was sitting at her desk in New York City as an employee for the Overseas War Secretaries Headquarters, when a young soldier laid a copy of the November issue of Lady's Home Journal on it.  It also happened, that on this day a conference of the delegates was being attended. When she found a few moments to read the magazine, she came across the poem "We shall not sleep" as the poem was first known.  She had read the poem before, but on that day, she had said that the words spoke to her and she pledged to "keep the faith".  She wrote her own poem in response.  We shall keep the faith.

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.

A few of the delegates had given Miss Michael some money for the flowers she had brought in to brighten up the headquarters and with those monies, she went out and purchased 25 small silk poppies.  She handed them out to the delegates to wear in remembrance to all fallen soldiers.

In 1920, Madame Guerin of France, was visiting the United States and happened to meet Miss Michael.  Madame Guerin loved the idea of the poppies and resolved to sell handmade poppies around Armistice Day when she got back to France, to raise money for poor children in war torn Europe.  She was a tireless advocate for spreading the word in Europe and Canada, and in 1921 she sold Field Marshall Earl Haig, who was the founder of the British Legion, on the idea.  They were the first to sell poppies for the benefit of poor and disabled veterans.  Madame Guerin, then received cooperation from the Veterans of Foreign Wars in 1922.  In 1924 the VFW of the United States was the first veteran organization to promote a national campaign for the distribution of the poppies.

The paper poppies are still made by hospitalized veterans.  The poppies are never sold but are given in exchange for your contribution.  The money made by the sales are used locally for the benefits provided to the disabled veterans.

I guess if we pause long enough and wonder, there is a story behind most everything.  The story of the poppies has always been one of my favorites in the history behind our everyday flowers.  It took a small flower, a dedicated doctor and 2 remarkable women to make such a huge difference in the lives of our wounded soldiers.  So now, everytime you walk past the table on your way into the store on Memorial Day or Veterans Day, you know the story of why they are selling red paper poppies and perhaps will throw in a little extra for our veterans.