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.
In Canada, you used to learn this poem in the 2nd grade or so. You would memorize it and recite it every November 11th with your classmates – I remember saying it out loud in a gym once with every other kid at my school at an entire assembly devoted to Remembrance Day. We’d all be given poppies, in keeping with the poem, which we would wear on our little lapels for the entire day – and usually for a few before and after. Veterans would come and speak to us, and most kids were well versed on the major wars before they were old enough to fully appreciate G.I. Joe. Although I cut and paste it into this page, I could have still typed it out from memory. And it gets me every time.
I say ‘used to’ because the current Canadian climate is not really conducive to mentioning war, or the soldiers who fight them, in any sort of favorable light. It’s probably been stricken from most curriculums in favor of repeated viewings of Ellen. Regardless, I wanted to share Flanders Fields with my American friends who have likely never heard of it – and say a sincere personal thank you to all those who have fought and died so far from home over the last hundred years. See another tribute over at GoonBlog.
Dave, I noticed a lot of Canadian NHL Coaches wearing the poppies on their lapels while watching games this Novemeber. I wondered what they were for. Thanks for taking time out to post that poem, and if you see a vet today, or know a vet, please, regardless of your stance on the current conflict, say thank you.
Be sure you click through and read the history of the poem.
Great tribute Dave and I couldn’t agree with you more DVS.
Thank you veterans.
re the Great War poem – In Flanders Fields.
The poem memorializes the dead of war.
It does not refer “returned soldiers”, the veterans of conflict. who survived to return home. It means they did NOT come home.
More re Dr. McCrae (d. 1918)and the young officer Alexis Helmer KIA 1915, on Canada’s online Virtual War Memorial. And of thousands of others who died in the service of Canada in wartime.
The poppy symbolizes the dead of war. It is them we thank annually on November 11 for making the supreme sacrifice. One can thank a living Veteran any day you see one.
I think there’s room for everyone, anonymous. Living and dead.
To distinguish between the red Poppy as a symbol of the dead of war and the little replicas distributed in November by veterans, the following from the website of the Canadian War Museum:
The Poppy, Symbol of Remembrance
The adoption of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance has international origins. The first person to use it this way was Moina Michael, a member of the staff of the American Overseas YMCA in the last year of the war. Michael read McCrae’s poem and was so moved that she composed one of her own in response. She recalled later: “In a high moment of white resolve, I pledged to keep the faith and always to wear a red poppy of Flanders Fields as a sign of remembrance and the emblem of ‘keeping the faith with all who died.'”
Consequently, she led a successful campaign to have the American Legion recognize the poppy as the official symbol of remembrance in April 1920. At the same time, Madame Anne Guerin, of France, inspired both by McCrae’s poem and by Moina Michael’s example, also became a vigorous advocate of the poppy as the symbol of remembrance for war dead. Her own organization, the American and French Children’s League, sold cloth copies of the flower to help raise money to re-establish war-devastated areas in Europe.
In 1921, Guerin travelled to Britain and Canada on behalf of the poppy and convinced both the recently formed British Legion and the Canadian Great War Veterans Association (a predecessor of the Canadian Legion) to adopt the poppy as their symbol of remembrance as well. The first ‘Poppy Day’ in both countries occurred on 11 November 1921. The Returned Soldiers League in Australia adopted the poppy as its symbol of remembrance the same year.
For the first year, these artificial poppies were bought from Guerin’s organization in France. By 1922, however, the various countries had started manufacturing them at home. In Canada, they were made by Vetcraft shops, run by the Department of Soldiers Civil Re-establishment and staffed by disabled soldiers. After its formation in 1925, the Canadian Legion (known as the Royal Canadian Legion since 1959) has run the poppy campaign in Canada.
An early edition of the Legion’s magazine, The Legionary, explained the significance of buying poppies made by Vetcraft, as opposed to commercially available copies, as follows: “The disabled veterans in Vetcraft and Red Cross workshops are creating true memorials, while a poppy replica produced under ordinary commercial competitive conditions is nothing more nor less than an artificial flower.”
The artificial poppy continues to flourish as the symbol of remembrance in the week leading up to the official commemorations on November 11. Today, millions of Canadians wear the bright red emblem to remember and honour the many thousands of their fellow Canadians who have died in war.
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With our father and other family serving overseas when we were in school, we are very conscious of those who gave their lives in wartime and those fortunate enough to get back home. Regards