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  1. #11
    Join Date
    18th October 09
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    BTW it's interesting to myself, an American, to see the quite different styles worn in Britain and Canada:

    Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte

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  3. #12
    Join Date
    21st May 08
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    Inverness-shire, Scotland & British Columbia, Canada
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    Evolution, Richard. For those who don't know the poem on which the poppy-as-a-symbol is based:

    In Flanders Fields

    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.

    Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae
    ~ May 3, 1915

    The British Legion version of the Story of the Poppy:

    McCrae’s poem inspired an American academic, Moina Michael, to make and sell red silk poppies which were brought to England by a French woman, Anna Guérin. The (Royal) British Legion, formed in 1921, ordered 9 million of these poppies and sold them on 11 November that year. The poppies sold out almost immediately and that first ever 'Poppy Appeal' raised over £106,000; a considerable amount of money at the time. This was used to help WW1 veterans with employment and housing.


    The following year, Major George Howson set up the Poppy Factory to employ disabled ex-Servicemen. Today, the factory and the Legion's warehouse in Aylesford produces millions of poppies each year.
    The demand for poppies in England was so high that few were reaching Scotland. Earl Haig's wife established the 'Lady Haig Poppy Factory' in Edinburgh in 1926 to produce poppies exclusively for Scotland. Over 5 million Scottish poppies (which have four petals and no leaf unlike poppies in the rest of the UK) are still made by hand by disabled ex-Servicemen at Lady Haig's Poppy Factory each year and distributed by our sister charity Poppy Scotland.



    The Canadian Legion version:

    The person who first introduced the Poppy to Canada and the Commonwealth was Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae of Guelph, Ontario, a Canadian Medical Officer during the First World War. John McCrae penned the Poem “In Flanders Fields” on a scrap of paper in May, 1915 on the day following the death of a fellow soldier. Little did he know then that those 13 lines would become enshrined in the hearts and minds of all who would wear them. McCrae’s poem was published in Punch Magazine in December of that same year, and the poem later served as inspiration three years later for Moina Michael, an American teacher. Moina Michael made a pledge to always wear a Poppy as a sign of Remembrance.

    During a visit to the United States in 1920, a French woman named Madame Guerin learned of the custom. Madame Guerin decided to make and sell poppies to raise money for children in war-torn areas of France. The Great War Veteran’s Association in Canada (our predecessor) officially adopted the poppy as its Flower of Remembrance on July 5, 1921.

    The UK poppy symbol has evolved to include a green leaf marking the 11th hour of the 11th month. The Canadian symbol has retained its original form, although in some years the centre is green and in others, black.

    Other, more permanent, forms of the poppy have come into being over the years. Today, the British Legion offers two lapel pins/brooches:



    The Canadian Legion offers, among many

    A glass and metal brooch:



    and a sealskin brooch:



    The one most often seen in Canada is this one:



    Each is different, but with the same symbolism. There are literally hundreds of slightly different designs.

    The first-shown British Legion one is about 1/2-inch in diameter and is intended as a daily memory for some, no matter the time of year.




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  5. #13
    Join Date
    2nd May 08
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    Mandurah, Western Australia
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    When I was a youngster the poppies sold in Western Australia in the lead-up to Armistice Day were made of fabric with a wire stem wrapped in green paper, somewhat similar to the one below, however, the petals were closed.

    According to my father they were made by severely disabled veterans.



    Information on the pictured poppy can be found here: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1231634
    Last edited by Bruce Scott; 8th November 18 at 01:36 AM.

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