On Memorial Day Weekend, members of Veterans groups distribute red poppies which have come to symbolize sacrifice in battle.
The tradition goes back to World War I and the Battle of Flanders in Belgium where despite, death of 87,000 Allied soldiers, and destruction, the red poppies still bloomed. Canasdian Amry surgeon Colonel John McCrae who was on hand during the battle, wrote the poem. He didn’t survive the war, however. He died of pneumonia in 1918.
On September 27, 1920, the first chapter of The American Legion made the poppy its official flower to memorialize those who fought and died. A few years later, the Veterans of Foreign Wars began national distribution programs around the country to support the cause, and in 1924, the American Legion did as well.
We, at Camp Constitution in keeping with our motto “Honoring the Past…Teaching the Present…Preparing the Future” recite the poem during our evening campfires at our annual family camp.
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.