It is early November and many of us Canadians are wearing the ubiquitous red poppies on our lapels. Those of you who watch the BBC likely have seen our British cousins wear a similar poppy on their lapels. We wear it of course, in honour of all those soldiers who died at all those wars. We wear it for Remembrance Day. Canadians hold the poppy very close to their heart. After all, the inspiration for it came from a Canadian.
As I've touched upon before, In Flanders fields is a poem written by a Canadian soldier and physician, Lieutenant Colonel Dr. John McCrae. He penned that poem after seeing his friend die. The poem stirs up a great many emotions in Canadians I find. While we may not believe in war all that much, you can sense a wee bit of fierce pride when it comes to the wars of yesteryear and what many of our countrymen and women gave up for the world to be the way it is today. If you're into figures, know this: fully, one million Canadians went to fight in the second world war. That may not sound like much. Except when you look at the population of Canada at the time. Canada was a country of 10 million inhabitants. One in ten went to fight. That is incredible. This isn't 10% of the able-bodied 17 to 35 year olds or something. This is fully 10% of the entire population of the country that went to fight in nearly every theatre of war in Europe. I find that statistic to be incredible. Over 45,000 didn't come back. They perished in the various ravages that make wars what they are. An absolute waste of lives.
Our not quite fellow Canadians (at the time) from Newfoundland (they joined Canadian confederation in 1949) sent a percentage larger I believe.
So, you may be able to see why we so religiously wear these little red things on our lapels. A lot of our blood has been shed on the battlefields of Europe in the name of freedom, King and country. I'll take a pass at expressing my sentiments on how the rest of the British empire fared during the wars (especially the Indians). That will make this post far longer than I am willing to have it.
We mark Remembrance Day (in Canada) on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11 month of the year. So do all our Commonwealth brethren. This was when (in 1918) the Armistice was signed, ending the First World War. We may call it Armistice Day or Poppy Day or Veterans Day but the sentiment is the same. And we wear our poppies. In the freezing cold. In rain. In snow. In whatever mother nature throws our way. But this is where this Canadian story takes a bit of a turn.
You see, when I went to get my poppy this year (we donate funds to the Royal Canadian Legion in exchange for a poppy), the lady gave me a sheet on the history of the poppy. I thought I knew all that I needed to know. Lt. Col. McCrae and the armistice. What more is there? It turns out, plenty more. You see, this American lady who worked for the YWCA named Moina Michael read McCrae's poem and wrote one in response called We shall keep the faith
Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet - to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.
We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre 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;
We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.
She decided she would wear a poppy to remember the sacrifice of the soldiers. She began a tireless campaign to get the poppy adopted as a symbol of war sacrifice. Remember, this is happening in the United States. She succeeded in 1920.
Along the way a French lady Anna Guérin came upon these poppies and decided to get the war veterans to make poppies and sell them and use the proceeds to rebuild France. She convinced the British and the rest of the Commonwealth to adopt these poppies.
And this is why we wear the red poppies to remember. A Scottish-Canadian doctor and soldier's poem inspires an American who decides to make it a symbol of sacrifice which then gets picked up by a French woman who in turn convinces the British Legion (and others) to adopt it as an official symbol of remembrance. Read more on the story of the poppy here.
So remember that when you wear the poppy.
The one thing that saddens me is that I don't see very many of our American brethren wear these poppies. They too have lost much in these wars and I think it would be a fitting tribute to their veterans. In Canada, we may be of various political stripes, religions, ethnicities, colours, countries of origin and what not, but we all wear our poppies. Great effort is taken to make sure Canadians all over the place have them on. The Canadian delegation at the G20 summit had it on. Canadian reporters all over the world have it on. My mother used to send me a package in the mail when I lived in the US. I have every poppy I ever wore pinned on my curtain. And, I will have a new one this November 11.
So this Remembrance Day, take a moment and contemplate what those young men and women gave for whatever country you call home.
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