The story behind poppies

To the Editor:

A friend recently related a story of having encountered volunteers selling poppies for Memorial Day who had no idea why they were selling poppies, as opposed to sunflowers (or tulips, or roses, or any other flower). Since this year is the 100th anniversary of the United States entering the Great War that gave rise to the use of the poppy, I’d like to share “In Flanders Fields” by Canadian military doctor and artillery commander Major John McCrae, written during the Second Battle of Ypres, Belgium on May 3, 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.

Nancy Frueh

East Berne