The City of the Poppy
Service: The Story of the Canadian Legion 1925 – 1960 p. xxxii
This story begins in 1915 in Flanders Field, Belgium with Lt-Col. John McCrae,
Canadian doctor and poet. It was here that he noticed how the blood-red poppies
sprang up from the scorched fields of Flanders as though nature herself bled for
the sacrifices of the many who had died there. Drawing upon the symbolism of
the flower, he penned his now famous ode to the deceased.
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 amidst the guns below.
We are 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 blow
In Flanders’ fields.
Lt-Col. John McCrae immortalized the poppy and its symbolism in his poem
Flanders’ Fields. It seemed a natural fit that this symbol should be established as a
permanent memorial to the fallen.
As to the origin of the idea of wearing the poppy, an American, Miss Moina Michael, originated the custom while working in a Y.M.C.A. canteen in New York in
1918. She decided to remember those who gave their lives by wearing a poppy at
all times. Miss Michael projected Col John McCrae’s stirring message in a poem
of her own. With McCrae’s theme in mind, she wrote her response,
“The Victory Emblem”:
Oh! you who sleep in Flanders’ fields
Sleep sweet – to rise anew.
We caught the torch you threw
And, holding high, we keep Faith
With those who died.
We cherished, 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 flowers that bloom above the dead
In Flanders’ fields.
And now the torch and poppy red
We 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.
Two years later, a French woman, Madame Guerin, visited the United States in
1920 and learned of Miss Michael’s idea. When Madame Guerin returned to
France she decided to use the concept in fundraising to help French children suffering in the war-torn areas of her country. For many years the popular belief was
held that the French woman, Madame Guerin, was the first to conceive the idea of
wearing a poppy. She certainly did the most to promote and put it into action by
encouraging groups and organizations to adopt the poppy as a symbol of remembrance, as well as a means of raising funds for those affected by the war.
Port Arthur News Chronicle, July 4, 1921, p. 1
In 1921, Madame Guerin went
to England where she presented the poppy idea to officials of the British Legion.
Her plan was submitted to Earl
Haig who, instinctively realizing its possibilities set in motion the organization of the
program. The British Legion
officials had but six weeks in
which to prepare for Armistice
Day, and the first British Poppy
Day appeal began in 1921.
Madame Guerin visited Canada in the same year, with Port
Arthur, Ontario as her first
stop. She attended meetings
Port Arthur News Chronicle, July 4, 1921, p. 1
with the Canadian Legion branch of the Great War Veterans Association
(G.W.V.A.) at the Prince Arthur Hotel from July 4-6, 1921. Again she presented
her idea of the remembrance poppy and proposed that a Poppy Day be held in
Canada. The G.W.V.A. readily approved the poppy and the suggestion that it be
worn on the anniversary of Armistice Day. On November 11, 1921 poppies were
made by the women and children of France and distributed in Canada for the first
time under the sponsorship of the G.W.V.A. Within a year, all Legion branches
across the country wore the poppy as a means of remembrance.
Port Arthur News Chronicle,
July 5, 1921, p. 2
Port Arthur News Chronicle,
July 5, 1921, p. 4
The Chronicle Journal,
June 18, 1991, p. 1
The Chronicle Journal, November 9, 2004, p. A1