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Poppy Day
Saturday May 10 is Poppy Day in these parts. You might have seen members of the VFW or American Legion and Auxillarys asking for a contribution in exchange for a poppy at local stores and malls.
Why a red poppy? The red poppy, the Flanders poppy, was first described as the flower of remembrance by Colonel John McCrae, who was Professor of Medicine at McGill University of Canada before World War One. Colonel McCrae had served as a gunner in the Boer War, but went to France in World War One as a medical officer with the first Canadian contingent. 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. Colonel McCrae was wounded in May 1918 and died after three days in a military hospital on the French coast. On the eve of his death he allegedly said to his doctor, "Tell them this. If ye break faith with us who die we shall not sleep". An American Miss Moira Michael, read "In Flanders' Fields" and wrote a reply entitled "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 kept The faith with those who died, We cherish, too, the Poppy red That grows on fields where valour 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 Wear in honour of our dead Fear not that ye have died for naught We've learned the lesson that ye taught In Flanders' fields. |
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I hope that every American will buy a poppy this year, it really helps the VFW to help carry on its programs.
May god bless you and all of the fallen hero's at Flanders Field! Of course , the other fallen hero's of less significant places, you know what I am saying. |
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