Why the Poppy?

The tradition of wearing poppies in honor of Canada's war dead takes its origin from the poem "In Flanders Fields," written in 1915 by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. McCrae was a Canadian Medical Officer during the First World War. His poem reflects his first hand account of what he witnessed while working from a dressing station on the bank of the Yser Canal at Ypres, in Belgium .

On April 22, the Germans used deadly chlorine gas against Allied troups in a desperate  attempt to create movement on one side or the other. Even though the effects of the gas were terrible, Canadian soldiers continued to fight without giving up, and  held the line for another 16 days.

In the trenches, John McCrae tended hundreds of wounded soldiers every day where he  was surrounded by the dead and the dying. In a letter to his mother, he wrote of the Battle of Ypres.

The general impression in my mind is of a nightmare. We have been in the most bitter of fights. For seventeen days and seventeen nights none of us have had our clothes off, nor our boots even, except occasionally. In all that time while I was awake, gunfire and rifle fire never ceased for sixty seconds ..... And behind it all was the constant background of the sights of the dead, the wounded, the maimed, and a terrible anxiety lest the line should give way.(Prescott. In Flanders Fields: The Story of John McCrae, p. 98)

The day before he wrote his famous poem, one of McCrae's closest friends was killed in the fighting and buried in a makeshift grave with a simple wooden cross. Wild poppies were already beginning to bloom between the crosses marking the many graves. Unable to help his friend or any of the others who had died, John McCrae gave them a voice through his poem. It was the second last poem he was to write.

                                 In Flanders Fields                                                                                                          by John McCrae

              
       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.

The poem was a great inspiration in adopting the poppy as the Flower of Remembrance in Canada, France, the U.S, Britain and Commonwealth countries. The first poppies were distributed in Canada in 1921.Today people wear the red poppies during the month of November and at war memorials on November 11th. The poppies may be worn or placed singly as wreaths.The volunteer donations from the distribution of millions of poppies is an important source of revenue for the Royal Canadian Legion that goes toward helping ex-servicemen and women buy food, and obtain shelter and medical attention.At public gatherings in Ottawa and around the country, Canadians pay tribute with two minutes of silence to the country's fallen soldiers from the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Afghanistan conflict and peacekeeping missions.

Watch and listen to this poem being read out loud. If you can, follow along, or read it at the same time - slowly and solemnly as it is meant to be read