One of My Favorite Veteran Day Tributes

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.

— Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 – 1918)

If you've ever been approached by a vet asking you to buy a poppy, you may have wonedered why poppies. The tradition comes from John McCrae's poem, "In Flanders Fields," written by  in 1915 ("In Flanders fields the poppies blow / Between the crosses, row on row"). In 1918 Moina Belle Michael, on reading McCrae's poem, pledged to always wear a red poppy as a sign of remembrance—and the Veterans of Foreign Wars began the "Buddy Poppy" program to help disabled and needy veterans in 1924. We hope you bought a bouquet.

Posted via email from Global Politics