Why do people wear red flowers on Memorial Day? What do red poppies mean?

On Monday, May 26, millions of people around the United States will be observing Memorial Day and honoring members of the military who have fallen in the line of duty, protecting the country and our way of life. Americans will attend ceremonies, lay flowers at gravesites and mourn.

Some of them will be wearing red flowers on their lapels. You may also see people wearing them on Friday, May 23, for National Poppy Day. Why?

It started during World War I.

According to the American Legion, red poppies bloomed brightly across France and Belgium during WWI, something scientists attributed to the soil enriched with lime from rubble left over from the battles.

The sight of colorful red flowers sprouting among and around rows of white crosses of fallen soldiers in Flanders prompted Colonel John McCrae, a surgeon with Canada’s First Brigade Artillery who had just buried his friend and fellow soldier, to write a poem to speak for the fallen and issue a call to action for the living.

The poem was printed in the British magazine “Punch” in 1915 and captured the attention of the British Commonwealth. It “became a rallying cry to all who fought in the First World War,” according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and was read at memorial ceremonies.

The red poppy became known as the “Flower of Remembrance” in the allied countries America, Britain, France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and became a symbol of the “war to end all wars” and its human cost.

→ Read the entire article on the Florida Times Union website.
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