Lest We Forget - Why We Wear The Poppy

Every November people can be seen wearing poppies. These poppies are worn to honour and remember the fallen soldiers of conflict, but why do we honour our war dead by way of wearing this particular flower?   

Flanders is an area of western Belgium which was completely destroyed during World War One. In an area once vibrant with people tending their crops and living in the surrounding villages and farmhouses nothing remained, except for the humble poppy.

The poppy is a strange plant as it's seeds can lie dormant in the soil for years before making an appearance, but after the disturbance of the soil in the fields of Flanders after the many bitter battles which were fought there, the poppies began to germinate and grow.

During the battle of Ypres in May of 1915 a young artillery officer called Alexis Helmer was killed. His death was  witnessed by Canadian military doctor, John McCrae, who was so moved by the sight of his dead friend that he wrote the poem ' In Flander's Fields', right after the soldier's funeral.

The poem would later be published in the British magazine, Punch, in December of the same year.   

IN FLANDER'S 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.

Colonel John McCrae, 1918.

After it's publication the poem was seen by American professor Moina Michael, who was so moved by what she read that she too was inspired to write a poem in reply. 

In her poem, ' We shall keep the faith'  she promised to remember the war dead of Flanders by way of wearing a poppy on her lapel and spent many years tirelessly campaigning for others to do the same. 
  

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.

Moina Michael, 1919. 

Generally people wear the poppy on their left lapel, to signify being near their heart, but there is actually a formal way to wear them. Men should wear them on their left lapel to imitate the position of war medals and women should wear them on their right lapel to imitate the position they could wear their husband's medals.

Some people can be seen wearing white poppies. These people are known as pacifists and wear the white poppy in order to show their disdain for war whilst still honouring the fallen. 

Some poppies are manufactured with leaves and some are not.These leafless poppies are made solely to save money, so that the money raised by the selling of the poppies goes to the various veteran's charities they are sold for, rather than the businesses which make them.  

The World War One armistice agreement was signed by representatives of France, Germany and Great Britain in a railway carriage in the Forest Of Compiegne in northern France. 

The world's first official observance of Armistice Day was held at 11 o'clock at Buckingham Palace in London on the 11th of November, 1919. The service remembered the signing of the armistice (the end of all military fighting), which was officiated at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. 

This day has gone on to be known as Armistice Day, Poppy Day, Veterans Day or Remembrance Day and is honoured to this day by way of services held on the Sunday nearest that date. 

Public remembrance services were first held in Great Britain in 1920 after the construction of the Cenotaph memorial in Whitehall in London. The cenotaph, which is made from Portland Stone and was designed by architect Edwin Lutyens, was unveiled on the 11^th of November 1920 and replaced a former temporary one, also designed by Lutyens, which went on to be replicated in towns and villages all over the country.

Since 1939, which heralded the start of the Second World War, the 11th of November has been remembered by way of observing a two minute silence at eleven o'clock. The first minute remembers the twenty million people who lost their lives in the war, be they military personnel or civilians, and the second minute is dedicated to the survivors of the war who were directly affected by any of those twenty million deaths. 

The Armistice Day which signalled the end of the Second World War in Europe was signed on the 8^th of May 1945 after Germany surrendered on the 28^th of April, although a small German resistance group kept up hostilities in modern day Czech Republic until the 11^th of May.

The end of the war in Europe was known as VE Day, which is an acronym for victory in Europe and although it is not treated with the same reverance as November the 11^th it is also remembered by way of wreath laying and services. 

In the United States, Armistice Day is known as Veteran’s Day and honours all soldiers, be they living or fallen. This day is not to be confused with America’s Memorial Day, which is an annual holiday held at the end of May which honours the dead of the American Civil War.

In France, Belgium and Serbia, Armistice Day / November 11th is remembered by way of a public holiday.

The end of the Second World War in Asia was marked by the surrender of Japan on the 15^th of August 1945.