THE RED POPPY
A History
Synonymous with War Memorials are the red poppies worn on Remembrance Day, Nov.11th ( originally known as Armistice Day ). The origin of the poppy tradition rests with three people, Major John McCrae* a Medical Officer with the 1st.Canadian Contingent at the battle of the Ypres salient in May 1915. Miss Moira Michael, Secretary of the American YMCA and Madam Guerin, Secretary French YMCA.
Apalled at the slaughter caused by the seventeen day Ypres battle Major McCrae wrote the following poem:
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.
Published in the London magazine 'Punch' December,1915, it received wide publicity.
Miss Moira Michael was so impressed with the poem she wrote the following:
"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 kept
The faith with those who died.
We cherish, too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valour 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
Wear in honour of our dead
Fear not that ye have died for naught
We’ve learned the lesson that ye taught
In Flanders’ Fields.
and made a decision to always wear a Flanders poppy "to keep the faith".
In November 1918 Madame Guerin attended a
convention of YMCA Secretaries from the Allied Nations and met
Miss Michael, greatly impressed with Miss Michael's idea of the
Flanders poppy as a badge of remembrance she took the idea back
to France from where it quickly spread amongst the Allies of WW1.
In 1919 the newly formed British Legion adopted the Flanders
Poppy as it's official badge of remembrance followed by the
Australian RSL in 1921. In 1922 a factory for the manufacture of
poppies for distribution in Britain and Northern Ireland was
established in the Old Kent Road, London under the supervision of
Major George Howson to provide employment for disabled soldiers.
As demand increased larger premises were required so in 1925 a
move was made to premises in Petersham Rd., Richmond, SW London
where it remains to the present day. At one time the factory
employed some 365 people producing 45 million poppies per annum;
today, with improved production methods, 44 people are employed
at the factory with another 90 home workers. Production for the
2006 ceremony will be
36 million poppies ( 650,000 buttonhole type)
105,000 wreaths
750,000 crosses
5 million petals
ooo0ooo
"In adopting the Poppy of Flanders’ Fields as the Memorial Flower to be worn by all Returned Soldiers on the above mentioned day, we recognise that no emblem so well typifies the Fields whereon was fought the greatest war in the history of the world nor sanctifies so truly the last resting place of our brave dead who remain in France" excerpt from RSL declaration of 1921.
In spite of the sentiments expressed above the "Poppies" supplied by the WA RSL for sale to the public since 2003 do not replicate Flanders Poppies, having more in common with minature multi petalled roses
.
* Col. John McCrae died of wounds in France, 1918