O
O.C.
Guest
Not many folks know the history of the poppy we use on Remembrance Day and how it came to be chosen as a symbol. The red poppy worn around the world in remembrance of battlefield deaths has nothing to do with the blood shed in the brutal clashes of World War I.
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 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 fields.
I believe if John McCrae had not written this immortal Poem "In Flanders Fields" in 1915 things might be different today.
The first person to wear, sell and use a poppy as a symbol of Remembrance was an American lady Moina Michael from Georgia who was working for YMCA in New York just before the Armistice was declared in Dec 1918 when she read McCrae's poem in a copy of Ladies Home Journal, and was so touched by the moving words he wrote that she vowed always wear a Red Poppy in Remembrance.
She was the first person to buy and use the Poppy as a token of Remembrance
Buying 25 silk poppies and pinning them on the conference delegates who gave her $10 for all the hard work she did at the YMCA conference.
After that she then threw all her efforts into campaigning to get the poppy adopted as a national remembrance symbol and help Ex-Servicemen, selling the first poppies to raise money for ex-soldiers.
Madame Guerin from France was present at the National American Legion Convention in September 1920 when the Memorial Poppy was proclaimed as the United States national emblem of remembrance.
In 1921 Madame Guerin sent French women to London to sell poppies, which introduced the Memorial Poppy idea to the British. Madame Guerin visited Haig and persuaded him to adopt the Flanders Poppy for the British Legion. Field Marshall Douglas Haig, a senior commander during WWI and a founder of the Royal British Legion, was sold on the idea (as were veterans' groups in, Australia and New Zealand Canada).
So that autumn, the newly established legion sold its first remembrance poppies. And the tradition began. Field Marshall Haig placed the first poppy on the newly erected Cenotaph on the 11th Nov. 1921
The construction of the Poppy was kept very simple so it could be assembled by disabled Ex-Servicemen but just like everything else unscrupulous people soon jumped on the bandwagon and saw it as a quick way to make money, so to ensure that you were buying an original poppy the centre button was white metal marked with Haigs Fund in green script and it had a cardboard stem, over the years different varieties were made in cardboard, silk, paper and cotton. When it was decided to drop the words Haig's Fund and H.F.from the white centre button it was then replaced with a black centre button marked POPPY APPEAL
I have heard many a story of why the word Haig was dropped from the button on the middle of the Poppy, from "I don't buy a poppy because some of the money goes towards the Haig family for using his name" to "Haig was disliked by most of the soldiers and I never buy a poppy on principle"
I have searched high and low to find if the first statement had any truth in it and if the Haig family had a percentage of the money for to use of the Haig name on the poppy
And I have been unable to verify that statement. And think it is false. The second statement wlll be argued over for the next 100 years
Earl Haig died in 1928 but the factory making the poppies is still going strong today in Scotland which is called Lady Haigs Poppy Factory.
All the poppies made today in England are made at the British Legion Poppy factory. Surrey Richmond
Strange that a leaf is used with it as to be botanically correct the poppy does not have a green leaf so I suppose it is just for decoration
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 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 fields.
I believe if John McCrae had not written this immortal Poem "In Flanders Fields" in 1915 things might be different today.
The first person to wear, sell and use a poppy as a symbol of Remembrance was an American lady Moina Michael from Georgia who was working for YMCA in New York just before the Armistice was declared in Dec 1918 when she read McCrae's poem in a copy of Ladies Home Journal, and was so touched by the moving words he wrote that she vowed always wear a Red Poppy in Remembrance.
She was the first person to buy and use the Poppy as a token of Remembrance
Buying 25 silk poppies and pinning them on the conference delegates who gave her $10 for all the hard work she did at the YMCA conference.
After that she then threw all her efforts into campaigning to get the poppy adopted as a national remembrance symbol and help Ex-Servicemen, selling the first poppies to raise money for ex-soldiers.
Madame Guerin from France was present at the National American Legion Convention in September 1920 when the Memorial Poppy was proclaimed as the United States national emblem of remembrance.
In 1921 Madame Guerin sent French women to London to sell poppies, which introduced the Memorial Poppy idea to the British. Madame Guerin visited Haig and persuaded him to adopt the Flanders Poppy for the British Legion. Field Marshall Douglas Haig, a senior commander during WWI and a founder of the Royal British Legion, was sold on the idea (as were veterans' groups in, Australia and New Zealand Canada).
So that autumn, the newly established legion sold its first remembrance poppies. And the tradition began. Field Marshall Haig placed the first poppy on the newly erected Cenotaph on the 11th Nov. 1921
The construction of the Poppy was kept very simple so it could be assembled by disabled Ex-Servicemen but just like everything else unscrupulous people soon jumped on the bandwagon and saw it as a quick way to make money, so to ensure that you were buying an original poppy the centre button was white metal marked with Haigs Fund in green script and it had a cardboard stem, over the years different varieties were made in cardboard, silk, paper and cotton. When it was decided to drop the words Haig's Fund and H.F.from the white centre button it was then replaced with a black centre button marked POPPY APPEAL
I have heard many a story of why the word Haig was dropped from the button on the middle of the Poppy, from "I don't buy a poppy because some of the money goes towards the Haig family for using his name" to "Haig was disliked by most of the soldiers and I never buy a poppy on principle"
I have searched high and low to find if the first statement had any truth in it and if the Haig family had a percentage of the money for to use of the Haig name on the poppy
And I have been unable to verify that statement. And think it is false. The second statement wlll be argued over for the next 100 years
Earl Haig died in 1928 but the factory making the poppies is still going strong today in Scotland which is called Lady Haigs Poppy Factory.
All the poppies made today in England are made at the British Legion Poppy factory. Surrey Richmond
Strange that a leaf is used with it as to be botanically correct the poppy does not have a green leaf so I suppose it is just for decoration