Poppies

Memorial Day observance started in 1868 with the decoration of graves of Union soldiers. For a full account, see

“The Origins of Memorial Day,”
https://www.va.gov/opa/publications/celebrate/memday.pdf

The poppy was introduced as a remembrance after WW1 and because of a poem composed in memory of fallen soldiers buried hastily after a deadly battle in a Flanders, Belgium, field, where poppies bloomed between newly dug graves. Inspired by the poem, Moina Michael, an American professor and humanitarian, vowed in 1918 to always wear a red poppy in remembrance of those who died in war.

(Shutterstock: Poppies in Flanders, WWII Remembrance Day)

The poem “In Flanders Fields” was written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian physician and soldier:

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.

For more on the poet and the occasion for the poem, see

“John McCrae,”
https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/people-and-stories/john-mccrae#10

There were, in fact, five major battles fought in Flanders during WWI. (McCrae wrote “In Flanders Fields” after the Second Battle of Ypres claimed many lives, including the life of McCrae’s good friend Alexis Helmer.) The five battles are succinctly outlined below (by Bing AI) and fact checked. (We found that casualty estimates for some battles vary considerably among sources.)

First Battle of Ypres (October–November 1914)

• Marked the end of the “Race to the Sea.”
• Allied forces halted the German advance.
• High casualties on both sides; estimated total 250,000 killed, wounded, missing, and captured.

Second Battle of Ypres (April–May 1915)

• Notable for the first large-scale use of poison gas (chlorine) by the Germans.
• Canadian forces played a key role in holding the line.
• Estimated casualties 100,000. 

Third Battle of Ypres (also known as the Battle of Passchendaele, July–November 1917)

• One of the bloodiest battles of the war.
• Fought in horrific muddy conditions.
• British and Commonwealth forces eventually captured Passchendaele Ridge.
• Famous for the detonation of massive mines under German lines.
• Considered a tactical success for the Allies. 
• Estimated casualties on all sides exceeded 500,000.

Fourth Battle of Ypres (April 1918, part of the German Spring Offensive)

• Also known as the Battle of the Lys.
• German forces attempted to break through Allied lines in Flanders.
• Estimated casualties 500,000, notable for the battle fought in mud.

Fifth Battle of Ypres (September–October 1918)

• Part of the final Allied offensives leading to the end of the war.
• Allied forces pushed German troops out of Flanders. 
• Estimated casualties 200,000.

Estimated casualties (killed, wounded, missing, and captured) for the five WWI battles fought in Flanders totaled 1.2 to 1.3 million. These figures include soldiers from Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Canada, Australia, and other nations involved in the Western Front.

Did Americans fight in Flanders fields? Yes, they did, 40,000 of them (“Americans in Flanders during World War I,” https://flandersintheusa.org/americans-flanders-during-world-war-i). But they didn’t arrive until June and July 1918, so they did not fight alongside McCrae, who died of pneumonia in January 1918.

Tomorrow, we might wear a red poppy to remember those who died fighting to preserve our freedoms and our way of life here in the US. At 3:00 PM tomorrow afternoon, during the National Moment of Remembrance, we are encouraged to pause to honor in silence those who served and made the highest sacrifice.

I look around the world today. You and I see what we see. The first guns were fired in Flanders fields 111 years ago. BBQ and parades, flags on graves, ceremonies, and speeches mark the Monday observance. Meanwhile, a war raging in Europe now has Kim joining forces with Putin against Ukraine and American isolationist politicians dividing alliances, with behavior difficult to explain and impossible to comprehend as consistent or coherent. 

George Santayana reminds us: “Those who do not remember their history are condemned to repeat it.”

I wish you a safe Memorial Day. If you can find one, please wear a poppy.