The Poppy
By Dr Stephen Clarke
The use of the red poppy – the Flanders’ Poppy – as
a symbol of remembrance derives from the fact that the poppy was the first
plant to re-emerge from the churned up soil of soldiers’ graves
during the First World War.
It was a poem by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian medical officer,
which began the process by which the Flanders’ Poppy became immortalised
worldwide as the symbol of remembrance.
The inspiration for the poem had been the burial of a fellow officer
during the Second Battle of Ypres in early May 1915. McCrae's verses,
which had been scribbled in pencil on a page torn from his despatch book,
were sent anonymously by a fellow officer to the English magazine, Punch,
which published them under the title In Flanders Fields on 8
December 1915. Subsequently, the poem was published around the world to
much acclaim and is one of the most memorable and moving poems of the
Great War.
After the war a French woman, Madame Guérin, conceived the idea
of widows manufacturing artificial poppies in the devastated areas of
Northern France that then could be sold by veterans’ organisations
worldwide for their own veterans and dependants as well as the benefit
of destitute French children.
It was as a result of the efforts of Guérin — known endearingly
as the ‘Poppy Lady’ — that the poppy became an international
symbol of remembrance.
One of Guérin's representatives came to New Zealand in 1921 and
put the poppy initiative to the Returned Soldiers’ Association (as
the RSA was originally known). The RSA duly placed an order for some 350,000
small and 16,000 large silk poppies with Madame Guérin's French
Children's League.
Today, the RSA Poppy continues to serve as New Zealand’s symbol
of remembrance and, like the silver fern, is a national icon.
Dr Stephen Clarke is the Official Historian and Commemorations Officer
for the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association.
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