Video: Why Poppies?

Why poppies?

Poppies are a symbol of remembrance of Commonwealth military personnel.

The link between poppies and World War One was first made when a poem by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian doctor, was published in Punch on 8 December 1915. It included the opening line, “In Flanders fields the poppies blow”. This referred to the common poppy, Papaver rhoeas, which is found throughout Europe where it grows well in disturbed ground such as farmland and the battlefields of the Western Front.

The American Legion was the first to adopt the poppy as its national symbol of remembrance in September 1920.

A year later, the RSA ordered more than 350,000 silk poppies from France for the first Poppy Day appeal, which was to occur close to Armistice Day (11 November) 1921. Unfortunately, the poppies arrived in New Zealand too late, so they were sold on Anzac Day in 1922 and were a great success.