Briefly on Tuesday in class we talked about the idea of a poppy flower being worn on Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day. The topic just seemed so interesting, that I thought it would be cool to try and dig a little deeper into the history of why this is done. It all began after World War 1. In the makeshift graveyards established to hold the thousands and thousands of soldiers who were killed in battle, little red flowers began to sprout up between the grave marks. These little poppy flowers showered the graves with a blast of bright red color, giving a much less solemn and more hopeful appearance.
First given notice in the poem “In Flander’s Fields”, by John McCrae (written in 1915), the little flower of the poppy plant slowly grew into “The Flower of Remembrance”. The manufaction of artificial poppy’s after the war began with 2 women. Georgie Michael and Anna E. Guerin started to sell these artificial poppy flowers in order to raise money for the orphaned children who had lost parents due to the gruesome war. The two began selling the poppy in the United States of America and soon, with the help of The American Legion, the poppy became known as “The Flower of Remembrance” in many countries across the world. In 1922, the production and selling of the artificial poppy had grown from France to New York and the women needed help to continue such a widespread effort. The two asked the Veteran’s of Foreign Wars (VFW), and they graciously accepted the poppy flower as the official Flower of Remembrance. In 1924, in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, a factory,meant only for the manufaction of poppy flowers was built. Disable veterans from World War 1 were hired immediately, benefiting the unemployed groups of soldiers left damaged after defending their country.
Much of the money made from the selling of these small flowers is donated to aid Veteran’s, Widows, orphans, and those who suffered loss and were effected negatively by World War 1. The flower honor’s the dead that were lost in past wars fought by American’s, and is a symbol of respect, not only remembrance. It’s a gracious move toward the military and American’s everywhere.
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