Royal British Legion
Brussels Branch
Origins of the Poppy
Origins of the Poppy
The first donations
for artificial poppies were given in Britain on 11th November 1921,
inspired by John McCrae's 1915 poem 'In Flanders' Fields'.
Some of the bloodiest fighting of World War One took place in the
Flanders and Picardy regions of Northern France. In the aftermath of
the war’s total devastation the only thing which would grow on the land
was the poppy. McCrae, a doctor serving there with the Canadian Armed
Forces, wrote these verses about what he saw:
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 1915