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Tracing inception of Memorial Day Red poppies commemorate fallen warriors

by
LAUrie PeArSOn

Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow
by the U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs Iconic red poppies are back and being offered as a symbol
of remembrance and commemoration of World War I, and
Three years after the Civil War ended, all fallen military service members.
on May 5, 1868, the head of an organiza- A century ago, “the war to end all wars” raged through-
tion of Union veterans — the Grand Army out Europe. It was a war that racked up nearly 38 million
of the Republic (GAR) — established casualties, including upward of 8.5 million deaths. From
Decoration Day as a time for the nation to 1914 to 1918, World War I took a greater human toll than
decorate the graves of the war dead with any previous conflict. The Great War, as it was then known,
flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared also ravaged the landscape of Western Europe, where most
that Decoration Day should be observed of the fiercest fighting took place.
on May 30. It is believed that date was Across northern France and Flanders, in northern Bel-
chosen because flowers would be in bloom gium, the brutal clashes between Allied and Central Pow-
all over the country. ers soldiers tore up fields and forests, tearing up trees and
The first large observance was held plants and wreaking havoc on the soil beneath.
that year at Arlington National Cemetery, It was from these devastated landscapes of the battlefields
across the Potomac River from Washing- that something surprising and striking took place. Bright
ton, D.C. red blooms began to appear.
The ceremonies centered around the “They had been burying the bodies of military men, and
mourning-draped veranda of the Ar- a few women, as they came off the battlefield, as quickly
lington mansion, once the home of Gen. as possible,” explained retired Marine Corps Master Sgt.
Robert E. Lee. Various Washington of- William Ponder, president of Veterans of Foreign Wars post
ficials, including Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses 12039, out of Victorville, California. “They were dying so fast,
S. Grant, presided over the ceremonies. and they began burying them in a place called Flanders Hill.
After speeches, children from the Soldiers’ They called it ‘planting the bodies.’ They were buried with
and Sailors’ Orphan Home and members simple little crosses.”
of the GAR made their way through the Then in the warm early spring of 1915, the bright red
cemetery, strewing flowers on both Union poppies began peeking through the battle-scarred land:
and Confederate graves, reciting prayers Papaver rhoeas, known variously as the Flanders poppy,
and singing hymns. corn poppy, red poppy and corn rose.
Local Observances Claim To Be These poppies grow throughout the United States, Asia,
First Africa and Europe and are native to the Mediterranean re-
Local springtime tributes to the Civil gion. The seeds need light to grow, so when they’re buried in
War dead already had been held in vari- the earth, they can lay dormant for 80 years or even longer
ous places. One of the first occurred in by some accounts, without blooming. Once soil is disturbed
Columbus, Mississippi, April 25, 1866, and the seeds come to light, poppies nobody knew existed
when a group of women visited a cem- can then bloom.
etery to decorate the graves of Confeder- U.S. Army photo by Rachel Larue Lt. Col. John McCrae, a noted Canadian physician before
ate soldiers who had fallen in battle at A U.S. Army 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) Soldier places American flags at headstones in Section 64 of Ar- the war, served with Canada’s First Brigade Artillery as a
Shiloh. Nearby were the graves of Union lington National Cemetery during Flags In, May 21, 2015, in Arlington, Va. The Old Guard has held this honor and privilege surgeon at a field hospital in Belgium. He worked within
soldiers, neglected because they were the of conducting Flags In since 1948. sight of poppies blooming across old battlefields and fresh
enemy. Disturbed at the sight of the bare graves. McCrae tended to the wounded and got a firsthand
graves, the women placed some of their look at the carnage of that clash, in which the Germans Courtesy graphic
flowers on those graves, as well. rial Day ceremonies were being held on Gen. Logan’s order for his posts to in the nation’s wars: “Not only are they unleashed lethal chlorine gas for the first time in the war —
Today, cities in the North and the South May 30 throughout the nation. State decorate graves in 1868 “with the choicest commemorated by columns and inscrip- adding greatly to the number of deaths, to include a friend As a sign of this faith, and a remembrance of the sac- the Legion members to adopt the poppy as their symbol,
claim to be the birthplace of Memorial legislatures passed proclamations desig- flowers of springtime” urged: “We should tions, but there dwells also an unwritten of McCrae’s, Lt. Alexis Helmer. rifices of Flanders Field, Michael vowed to always wear a and to join her by celebrating National Poppy Day in the
Day in 1866. Both Macon and Columbus, nating the day, and the Army and Navy guard their graves with sacred vigilance. memorial of them, graven not on stone Struck by the sight of bright red blooms on broken ground, red poppy; she found an initial batch of fabric blooms for United States the following May.
Georgia, claim the title, as well as Rich- adopted regulations for proper obser- ... Let pleasant paths invite the coming but in the hearts of men.” McCrae wrote a poem, “In Flanders Field,” in which he herself and her colleagues at a department store. After the A century after World War I ended, millions of people in
mond, Virginia. The village of Boalsburg, vance at their facilities. and going of reverent visitors and fond To ensure the sacrifices of America ’s channeled the voice of the fallen soldiers buried under war ended, she returned to the university town of Athens, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Belgium, Australia
Pennsylvania, claims it began there two It was not until after World War I, how- mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of fallen heroes are never forgotten, in De- those bright red poppies. Published in Punch magazine in and came up with the idea of making and selling red silk and New Zealand don the red flowers every November 11,
years earlier. A stone in a Carbondale, ever, that the day was expanded to honor time, testify to the present or to the com- cember 2000, the U.S. Congress passed late 1915, the poem has been used at countless memorial poppies to raise money to support returning veterans. known as Remembrance Day or Armistice Day, to com-
Illinois cemetery carries the statement those who have died in all American wars. ing generations that we have forgotten as and the president signed into law “The ceremonies, and has become one of the most famous works Michael’s campaign to create a national symbol for re- memorate the anniversary of the 1918 Armistice.
that the first Decoration Day ceremony In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a a people the cost of a free and undivided National Moment of Remembrance Act,” of art to emerge from the Great War. Its fame had spread far membrance — a poppy in the colors of the Allied nations’ In the United States, the tradition has developed a
took place there on April 29, 1866. Carbon- national holiday by an act of Congress, republic.” P.L. 106-579, creating the White House and wide by the time McCrae himself died, from pneumonia flags entwined around a victory torch — didn’t get very far little differently. Americans don’t typically wear poppies
dale was the wartime home of Gen. Logan. though it is still often called Decoration The crowd attending the first Memo- Commission on the National Moment of and meningitis, in January 1918. at first. In mid-1920, however, she managed to get Georgia’s on November 11, Veterans Day, which honors all living
Approximately 25 places have been named Day. It was then also placed on the last rial Day ceremony at Arlington National Remembrance. The commission’s charter Across the Atlantic, a woman named Moina Michael read branch of the American Legion, to adopt the poppy (minus veterans. Instead, they typically wear the symbolic red
in connection with the origin of Memorial Monday in May, as were some other fed- Cemetery was approximately the same is to “encourage the people of the United “In Flanders Field” in the pages of Ladies’ Home Journal the torch) as its symbol. Soon after that, the National flower on Memorial Day, the last Monday in May, to com-
Day, many of them in the South where eral holidays. size as those that attend today’s obser- States to give something back to their that November, just two days before the armistice. She was American Legion voted to use the poppy as the official memorate the sacrifice of so many men and women who
most of the war dead were buried. Some States Have Confederate vance, about 5,000 people. Then, as now, country, which provides them so much a professor at the University of Georgia at the time the war U.S. national emblem of remembrance when its members have given their lives fighting for their country. Protocols
Official Birthplace Declared Observances small American flags were placed on each freedom and opportunity” by encouraging broke out. Michael had taken a leave of absence to volunteer convened in Cleveland in September 1920. do allow, though, for the red poppies to be worn at any time,
In 1966, Congress and President Many Southern states also have their grave — a tradition followed at many na- and coordinating commemorations in the at the New York headquarters of the Young Women’s Chris- A Frenchwoman named Anna Guérin was a champion in somber reverence for those lost in war.
Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, own days for honoring the Confederate tional cemeteries today. In recent years, United States of Memorial Day and the tian Association, which trained and sponsored workers over- of the red poppy symbology and as such was invited to the Regardless the time of year — or holiday celebrated —
New York, the “birthplace” of Memorial dead. Mississippi celebrates Confederate the custom has grown in many families National Moment of Remembrance. seas. Inspired by McCrae’s verses, Michael wrote her own American Legion convention to speak about her idea for an the red poppies are an ongoing visual representation of
Day. There, a ceremony on May 5, 1866, Memorial Day on the last Monday of April, to decorate the graves of all departed The National Moment of Remembrance poem in response, which she called “We Shall Keep Faith.” “Inter-Allied Poppy Day.” Madame Guérin helped convince respect and appreciation for those who have served.
honored local veterans who had fought Alabama on the fourth Monday of April, loved ones. encourages all Americans to pause
in the Civil War. Businesses closed and and Georgia on April 26. North and South The origins of special services to honor wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time on Published by Aerotech News and Review, Inc. • 877- 247-9288 • www.aerotechnews.com
residents flew flags at half-staff. Sup- Carolina observe it on May 10, Louisiana those who die in war can be found in Memorial Day for a minute of silence to Aerotech News and Review prepares all editorial content for Desert Information Service, Air Force News Service, Air Combat Command, tents of Desert Lightning News and the Thunderbolt are not necessarily
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