Some of the worst fighting of World War One took place in Flanders and Picardy regions of Belgium and Northern France. A doctor, John McCrae, serving there with the Canadian Armed Forces was deeply inspired and wrote these words in 1915:-
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.
An American War Secretary, Moina Michael, inspired by the poem, began selling poppies to raise money for the ex-Service community. And so the tradition began.
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