{"id":186,"date":"2009-05-24T17:34:54","date_gmt":"2009-05-24T17:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/marthawilliamson\/2009\/05\/remember-the-poppies.html"},"modified":"2009-05-24T17:34:54","modified_gmt":"2009-05-24T17:34:54","slug":"remember-the-poppies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/marthawilliamson\/2009\/05\/remember-the-poppies.html","title":{"rendered":"Remember the Poppies?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2poppies.gif\"<\/a><\/span> Dear Friends,
\nI remember being a little girl and getting a dollar from my father to “buy” one of these poppies. (Remember the strange, stiff crepe paper with the dusty red color that rubbed off?!). As a small child, I simply thought they were flowers that meant “Spring is Here.” As an adult, they mean so much more. And I miss them. How about you? Read this fascinating story behind the poppies from the US government’s internet history site and tell me if you remember, too.<\/p>\n


\nIn Flanders Fields<\/strong>
\nBy John McCrae
\nIn Flanders fields the poppies blow
\nBetween the crosses, row on row,
\nThat mark our place; and in the sky
\nThe larks, still bravely singing, fly.
\nScarce heard amid the guns below.
\nWe are the dead. Short days ago
\nWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
\nLoved, and were loved, and now we lie
\nIn Flanders fields.
\nTake up our quarrel with the foe:
\nTo you from failing hands we throw
\nThe torch; be yours to hold it high.
\nIf ye break faith with us who die
\nWe shall not sleep, though poppies grow
\nIn Flanders fields.
\nThis was the poem written by World War I Colonel John McCrae, a surgeon with Canada’s First Brigade Artillery. It expressed McCrae’s grief over the “row on row” of graves of soldiers who had died on Flanders’ battlefields, located in a region of western Belgium and northern France. The poem presented a striking image of the bright red flowers blooming among the rows of white crosses and became a rallying cry to all who fought in the First World War. The first printed version of it reportedly was in December 1915, in the British magazine Punch.
\nMcCrae’s poem had a huge impact on two women, Anna E. Guerin of France and Georgia native Moina Michael. Both worked hard to initiate the sale of artificial poppies to help orphans and others left destitute by the war. By the time Guerin established the first sale in the U.S., in 1920 with the help of The American Legion, the poppy was well known in the allied countries — America, Britain, France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — as the “Flower of Remembrance.” Proceeds from that first sale went to the American and French Children’s League.
\nGuerin had difficulty with the distribution of the poppies in early 1922 and sought out Michael for help. Michael had started a smaller-scaled Poppy Day during a YMCA conference she was attending in New York and wanted to use the poppies as a symbol of remembrance of the war. Guerin, called the “Poppy Lady of France” in her homeland, and Michael, later dubbed “The Poppy Princess” by the Georgia legislature, went to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) for help. Following its first nationwide distribution of poppies in 1922, the VFW adopted the poppy as its official memorial flower.
\nHowever, a shortage of poppies from French manufacturers led to the idea of using unemployed and disabled veterans to produce the artificial flowers. In 1924, a poppy factory was built in Pittsburgh, Pa., providing a reliable source of poppies and a practical means of assistance to veterans. Today, veterans at Department of Veterans Affairs medical facilities and veterans homes help assemble the poppies, which are distributed by veterans service organizations throughout the country.
\nDonations received in return for these artificial poppies have helped countless veterans and their widows, widowers and orphans over the years. The poppy itself continues to serve as a perpetual tribute to those who have given their lives for the nation’s freedom.
\nFor more information visit the United States Department of Veterans Affairs website.<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Friends, I remember being a little girl and getting a dollar from my father to “buy” one of these poppies. (Remember the strange, stiff crepe paper with the dusty red color that rubbed off?!). As a small child, I simply thought they were flowers that meant “Spring is Here.” As an adult, they mean…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holidays"],"yoast_head":"\nRemember the Poppies? - A Touch of Encouragement<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/marthawilliamson\/2009\/05\/remember-the-poppies.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Remember the Poppies? - A Touch of Encouragement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear Friends, I remember being a little girl and getting a dollar from my father to “buy” one of these poppies. 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