The poppy flower is a symbol of the First World War in the United Kingdom, but also in many other countries , because they bloomed frequently on the battlefields in Flanders.
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.
John McCrae did not survive World War I. The army doctor died on January 28, 1918 of pneumonia and meningitis. He was 45 years old.
Commemorations
The poppy can be found during most commemorations of the First World War. Remembrance Day (or Poppy Day) is observed in the United Kingdom on November 11, the day World War I ended in 1918 . This day commemorates the fallen of the First World War, as well as soldiers who died in armed conflicts afterwards.
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 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;
We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.
Veterans
Also in Australia many people pin plastic poppies on the lapel, during Remembrance Day and Anzac Day. Sometimes they are also decorated there with sprigs of rosemary, following a sentence from Shakespeare ‘s play Hamlet:
“There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray you love remember”