VFW Veteran Shares Meaning of Remembrance Poppy in U.S., World

VFW FAMILY FREEDOM FESTIVAL Saturday, November 3rd, 1 to 4 P.M. The Norman P. Murray Center in Mission Viejo, 24932 Veterans Way. FREE and Open to the Public

THE REMEMBRANCE or BUDDY POPPY STORY

By John L Carson Jr. Vice Commander, Mission Viejo VFW Post 6024

This story had it’s beginning in a battlefield in Ypres, Belgium, in a small area known a Belgian Flanders, later referred to as Flanders Fields. It was during World War I from 1914 to 1918 Flanders was one of the most devastated battlefields of the war. Over 600,000 soldiers and civilians lost their lives on that field. Not one tree or building remained after the 4 plus year battle was finally over. In the Dutch spoken area of Northwest Flanders today are over 100 cemeteries, some small and secluded, and others well known.

After the war, an amazing sight occurred. Flanders Fields turned blood red in springtime from the wild poppies that sprung up, covering the entire battlefield after the spring rains. The vivid red flower, known by many names, the corn poppy, field poppy, red poppy, and red weed, was in full bloom, looking like the entire field was covered in blood. The poppy is a natural weed in Western Europe. It only grows when the soil is disturbed and the churned dirt covers the poppy seeds. During the four years of battle, the weed did not get a chance to grow, but flourished the spring after the last cannons and guns were fired.

A young Canadian Military Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel John Alexander McCrae was assigned to the medical service at Flanders Fields. McCrae was so shaken by what he had experienced during the battles at Flanders Fields, he could not get the sights and sounds out of his mind. When all that saw the site of the blooming poppies covering the field, it brought mixed emotions of the red blood of the fallen, yet the regeneration of new life. This inspired Lieutenant-Colonel McCrae to write the poem, “We Shall Never Sleep.” The McCrae poem was later changed to, “IN FLANDERS FIELDS THE POPPIES BLOW”.

A University of Georgia professor, Monica Belle Michael, was helping ready workers for overseas service in WWI. When in New York City on November 9, 1918, she first read the poem by McCrae in ‘The Lady’s Home Journal’ when the poem was first called, “We Shall Never Sleep.”

Michael recalled in a later interview that the poem had a significant emotional impact on her. The poem was both very moving and compelling.

“This for me was a full spiritual experience,” she told the interviewer. “It seemed as though the silent voices again were vocal, whispering, in sights of anxiety into anguish.”

Michael pledged to always wear a red poppy of Flanders Fields to keep the faith of all who died. Michael went to department stores and gathered up all the paper poppies she could find, and set out selling them to raise funds for the returning soldiers wounded and needing help. This is considered the beginning of a campaign to make the poppy a national commemorative symbol. McCrae passed away in January of 1918 and never learned of Michael’s efforts.

On September 29th, 1920, Michael attended the National Convention of The American Legion. There she convinced the convention to make the poppy part of the Legion’s symbol, and to wear it on November 11th, to commemorate Armistice Day. The selling of the poppy spread nationwide through the American Legion.

Attending the convention was a member of the French YWCA, Madame Anna E. Guerin. She too believed that the vision of the Memorial Poppy could not be ignored. Guerin versioned the selling of the Remembrance Poppy could be a huge fundraiser, aiding the people suffering from the ravages of war. She traveled world wide spreading the Memorial Poppy sale idea.

Madame Guerin traveled to Great Britain to address the president of the British Legion. On November 11, 1921, the Remembrance Poppy sold throughout the British Empire. France, the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand adopted the Remembrance Poppy in 1922. The Remembrance Poppy is manufactured by just two factories — one in Richmond and the other inEdinburgh. The Richmond factory alone makes over 45 million poppies a year.

IN FLANDERS FIELDS

By Lieutenant-Colonel John Alexander McCrae

Between the cross, row by 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 hand 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 response to John McCrae’s poem, Moina Belle Michael wrote “WE SHALL KEEP THE FAITH”

Oh! You who sleep in Flanders Fields,

Sleep sweet – to rise anew!

We chough the torch you threw,

And holding high, we keep the Faith

With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red

That seems to signal to the skies

That blood of heroes never diess,

But lends a luster to the red

Of the flower that blooms above the dead

In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red

We Wear in honor of our dead.

Fear not that ye have died for naught;

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders Fields we fought

HOW TO BECOME INVOLVED IN SOUTH COUNTY VFW BUDDY/REMEMBRANCE POPPY PROGRAM IN 2018

“As part of my duties as Jr. Vice Commander, I am in charge of the Buddy Poppy Campaign; also know as the Remembrance Poppy,” said South Orange County resident John Carson, a USMC Vietnam Veteran, member of the Sons of the American Revolution and Junior Vice Commander of The Veteran’s of Foreign Wars, Mission Viejo POST 6024. “Every Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day weekends, VFW members all across this nation gather in from of businesses to hand out Buddy/Remembrance Poppies. We do not sell the paper made poppies, but do accept donations of any amount to help support programs sponsored by the local VFW posts to help our wounded Veterans and active duty military families in need. This is the VFW’s biggest fundraiser for these programs. We give out the poppies to anyone that asks, even if they do not give a donation.”

“The Mission Viejo VFW Post 6024 puts on several BBQs and entertainment a year for the Spinal Injury Ward at the Long Beach Veteran’s Hospital,” Carson said. “The Post also has adopted the First Marine Division Headquarters Battalion at Camp Pendleton. A BBQ is held at the Mission Viejo Lake to thank the Marines for their service. We also offer assistance to those in need.”

“Post 6024 supports a very successful Boy Scout Troop. Post 6024 is the sponsor of three Scout units ranging in age from 5 to 20 years of age,” he said.

Carson said the following units are a big part of the Post family:

• 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 -Troop 727 was selected as VFW Department Scout Unit of the Year

• 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 - VFW District 2 Scout of the Year have come from Troop 727

• 2016 - Post 6024 was selected as the most active in Scouting by Department of California

• 2018 The state troop leader of the year and National top Scout of the year came from Troop 727

• The first all female Boy Scout Troop in California is currently being formed through Troop 727

“The donations from the Buddy/Remembrance Poppy Campaign go to support all these programs,” Carson said. “So if you are out this Veteran’s Day and see a Veteran handing out (free) Poppies, please feel free to accept one.”

“If the mood moves you, a monetary donation will go to support worthy causes,” he said. “The VFW is all-volunteer, so 100% of all donations goes into the programs.”

Carson recalls handing out McCrae’s “In Flanders Field” last year to a woman who stopped to thank him.

“She told me that her great grandfather fought in WWI and her grandfather fought in WWII. Her father had her memorize the poem when she was a little girl,” Carson said.

“After I handed her the poem she said was going to have her children memorize also,” he said.

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Photos, Links

1. Remembrance Poppy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Shall_Keep_the_Faith

2. Links, Copyright Photos “We Shall Not Sleep!” https://loc.gov/item/ihas.200210760

Photos Courtesy Copyright the John Carson Family, VFW Veteran

3. Remembrance Poppies at Stonehenge in England September 2017

4. John Carson at Stonehenge, September 2017

5. Wild Remembrance Poppy growing at Stonehenge, England