Aug 15, 20212 min read

Blooms on Broken Ground

Poppies grow on disturbed land because they need sunlight to grow. These plants are a weed, taking up valuable space and farmland. However, they were some of the only plants that grew immediately after bombs hit the ground throughout Europe during WWI. It was a haunting image: empty fields, blackened dirt, and a sea of bright red poppies. So haunting, in fact, that a doctor and soldier wrote a poem about it, titled In Flanders Fields.

Though these plants left an impact on the many soldiers and civilians who saw them dotting the battlefields, poppies did not leave a large impression until after the war ended. Moina Michael, upon reading the aforementioned poem in a magazine, decided that she would always don the flower. She wore the flower to remember the lives lost during the war on the global battlegrounds.

Michael then came up with the idea to sell and distribute artificial poppies throughout the United States in order to raise funds to send to the families of veterans and fallen soldiers. Michael refused to give up her call and, two years later, the American Legion formally adopted the poppy as the national symbol of remembrance.

Across the Atlantic, in France, Anna Guérin had the same mission. Guérin produced poppies and sold them globally, travelling around the world to convince countries to adopt the poppy as an international symbol of remembrance. She wanted the world to remember the war and the millions of lives lost to the violence, soldiers and civilians alike.

These two determined women greatly influenced and changed the role of the poppy as we know it today. Instead of it being known as a useless weed, it is now a heart-wrenching beauty and symbol of the many lives lost during the Great War.

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Published November 16, 2020

Written by Farrah Diogene ~ Edited by Sarah Wilenzick ~ Graphics created by Elwin Fu

Blooms on Broken Ground

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