ANZA will be placing a wreath at the remembrance day event on Sunday 8th of November at the Durban Cenotaph.
From: Rick Andriés [mailto:rick@durbs.com]
Sent: 03 November 2015 09:25 PM
Subject: Wearing the Poppy
"Fellow Legionnaires & friends of the Legion.
If you’re already doing so, that’s great… but in case not, please may I
remind you that, wherever practical, you’re expected to “Wear your Poppy
with Pride”, daily at least until Remembrance Day - i.e. Wednesday,
November 11th.
Kindly refer to the attached story of the Poppy, which I’m sure you’ll find of some interest.
Thank you.
Regards,
Rick
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM"
HOW ‘THE FLOWER OF FORGETFULNESS’
BECAME ‘THE FLOWER OF REMEMBRANCE’
History
relates that out of the land of the white poppy, came Genghis Khan in the wake
of the Great Khan’s bloodthirsty warriors, wherever the blood of man was
spilled, the seeds of the “flower of
forgetfulness” (the opium poppy) budded in full flower.
Now, huge transformation has turned blood red and in
the center of each flower was outlined a cross, as though Nature herself was
crying in protest at the wanton slaughter during both world wars. On battlefields which before had been bare
wastes, there sprang up the poppy, it’s symbol carpeting the graves of men who
died.
Capt John McCrae, a Canadian medical officer,
experienced the carnage and destruction of the First World War on the Western
Front. Torn by the misery of war and
confronted with the dead and wounded being part of his everyday life as a
surgeon, he wrote his celebrated poem “In Flanders Fields”. This poem bought him fame in and beyond the
British Empire. This poem was written on
3 May 1915 on a slip of paper from his dispatch book:
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
This poem was
published by “Punch” anonymously on 8
December 1915. It was a success and
soldiers copied it, quoted it and discussed it in the trenches. The poem became a source of strength and
determination.
Why did this poem
have such an impact on soldiers and later military veterans?