What Does the Remembrance Poppy Symbolize for Our Veterans?

This time of the year we see veterans from the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion Auxiliary standing on street corners conducting their yearly fundraiser and with each donation made they give you a poppy made of crepe-paper. This poppy is called the remembrance poppy. What is the remembrance poppy? It is an artificial flower that has been used to commemorate our military who have died in the line of duty.

The remembrance poppy was inspired by a poem written during World War I “In Flanders Fields,” written by John McCrae in May of 1915. People often talk about the poem being the inspiration for the remembrance poppy but what was the inspiration for the poem which brought about the remembrance poppy?

April 23, 1915 in the early hours of the morning the 1^st Brigade Canadian Field Artillery arrived on the west bank of the Ypres-Yser canal just north of Ypres. Major John McCrae was second in command as well as being a military doctor. His friend Lieutenant Alexis Helmer was an officer of the 2^nd Battery, 1^st Brigade Canadian Field Artillery, he was 22 years old and very popular. Before the war began Alexis attended and graduated from McGill Univeristy with a degree in Civil Engineering.

On May 2, Sunday morning, they young Lieutenant left his dugout and was hit by an 8 inch German shell, killing him instantly. I will leave out the gory parts of how they put him to rest that evening. He was laid to rest in what became known as Essex Farm British Military Cemetery, a burial ground that contained graves of both the French and Canadian casualties.

Since there was no chaplain available to preside over the services for the young Lieutenant his friend Major John McCrae conducted a simple service at his graveside. A wooden cross marked the burial place but it has since been lost. Lieutenant Alex Helmer along with 54, 896 soldiers who have no known graves in the battlefields of the Ypres Salient are commemorated at the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres.

There are several stories as to why Major John McCrae wrote ‘In Flanders Fields’ one being he was sitting on the rear of an ambulance the following day looking at Alexis’ grave and the red poppies that were coming up among the graves. It was also said the Major was so upset with the loss of his friend that after the burial he wrote the poem to try to compose himself, and still another account was given by Lieutenant Colonel Morrison who was John’s commanding officer. He said Major McCrae told him he wrote the poem to pass time between the arrival of two groups of wounded at the first aid post.

‘In Flanders Fields’ was published in Punch magazine on December 8, 1915. It read as follows:

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 is what the red crepe paper poppies symbolize, peace, death, and sleep. The poppies represented to Major John McCrae all those who gave their lives on that battlefield lay to rest in a field of poppies. Once the battles were fought and the conflict over the only plants that would grow on the otherwise barren battlefields was the poppy. This man, Major John McCrae, who was a Canadian surgeon as well, often held lives in his hands. To him the significance of the poppy was a lasting memorial to the fallen, a symbol he felt the need to write about and let the world feel what he saw.

So where is Flanders Fields American Cemetery and Memorial of WWI? It sits on the southeast edge of the town of Waregem, Belgium. There are 411 American servicemen buried there or commemorated there and is the only American WWI cemetery in Belgium.

The symbolism of using the red poppy to remember the fallen was first used by British and Canadian troops and as a fundraiser for their disabled veterans. It made its way to our shores when it was introduced by a woman Mona Michael on November 11, 1918. She purchased 25 silk poppies to distribute to attendees of the YMCA Overseas War Secretaries Conference. Seeing how well received the idea was she decided the poppy should be adopted as a national symbol of remembrance. It took her two long years but she managed to succeed in having the National American Legion Conference adopt it.

My father always stopped and donated so we could all have a poppy to wear. When we were growing up they were pins we could put on our jackets to show our support. We were so proud and I will say excited to get our poppy every year. I always took the old one and put it in my jewelry box. After a while they stopped putting a pin backing on it but still we made sure we purchased the poppy to remember all those who served and will serve this country, and who gave their all so we could live a good life, a free life. After they stopped making them as a pin my father used to attach it to his rearview mirror in his car. I don’t think he ever had a car where the poppy did not hang from the mirror. I am sure many of you remember that growing up.

The men and women out there every Memorial Day are volunteers, giving their time to help raise funds by giving you a poppy for your small donation. A donation that goes so much further than you would ever think. You see these contributions help our disabled and even hospitalized veterans. These donations help provide benefits to veterans. They are made by hospitalized veterans as a form of physical and mental therapy. These veterans receive a small wage to help them supplement their incomes and reinforce their self-esteem giving them a little more of their independence back.

These donations the volunteers stand out there to collect, go exclusively to assist our veterans, disabled veterans and their families. We don’t have many living veterans from WWI but this poppy now stands for more than just WWI. It stands for all veterans who have given their service to this country, those who have sacrificed so much and those who will continue to in the future. To me, it is a symbol of pride and honor of the men and women who served this country, who fought in wars and gave no thought to their own safety because their job was to protect the United States of America and all Americans.

So when you see the volunteer standing on the corner or near the entrance of the grocery store asking for a small donation instead of getting upset because someone is asking for a donation remember why they are asking. Remember the work it took for those disabled veterans to make the poppies, remember why they make them, and show them a little appreciation. Taking a few seconds out of your day to drop a small donation into a bucket and accept a poppy to proudly display in your car or even on your coat to show you not only support our veterans you appreciate all they have done and all so many have sacrificed so you can be free to live your life to its fullest.

Purchase a remembrance poppy and say a silent thank you to our fallen military who gave their all, to our disabled veterans who have had their entire lives changed because of the service and dedication to America, and to their families for serving right along with their loved ones.

To all our troops, our veterans, past present and yet to come, I thank you for your service and for my freedoms. You are the glue that keeps this union together and because of you we are the land of the free and the home of the brave.

May God Bless America and all our veterans, past, present, and yet to come.