page_title: Remembrance poppy
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: Remembrance poppy / Origins
caption_attribution_description: English: Moina Michael, promoter of Poppy Day observance, commemorated in US postage stamp of 1948.
context_page_description: The remembrance poppy is an artificial flower sold by veteran's associations to raise money for servicemen and servicewomen.
  The modern Remembrance Poppy has been trademarked by veteran's associations in many jurisdictions, particularly in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth nations, where sales fund the associations' services. Small remembrance poppies are often worn on clothing leading up to Remembrance Day/Armistice Day, and poppy wreaths are often laid at war memorials. In Australia and New Zealand, they are also worn on Anzac Day.
  The "Originator of Poppy Day", Madame Guérin, raised funds during World War I for widows, orphans, veterans, U.S. Liberty bonds, and charities such as the Red Cross and Food for France.
  After the Armistice that ended World War I, the French government formed "La Ligue des Enfants de France et d’Amérique", a charity which used a poppy as its emblem. Madame Guérin created the American branch of this charity, called the "American and French Children’s League". Many organizations adopted the poppy as their memorial flower after World War I ended, and in 1919, Madame Guérin established Poppy Days, under the auspices of her charity.
context_section_description: The opening lines of the World War I poem "In Flanders Fields" refer to poppies growing among the graves of war victims in a region of Belgium. The poem is written from the point of view of the fallen soldiers and in its last verse, the soldiers call on the living to continue the conflict. The poem was written by Canadian physician John McCrae on 3 May 1915 after witnessing the death of his friend and fellow soldier the day before. The poem was first published on 8 December 1915 in the London-based magazine Punch.
  Moina Michael, who had taken leave from her professorship at the University of Georgia to be a volunteer worker for the American YMCA Overseas War Secretaries Organization, was inspired by the poem. She published a poem of her own called "We Shall Keep the Faith" in 1918. In tribute to McCrae's poem, she vowed to always wear a red poppy as a symbol of remembrance for those who fought in and assisted with the war. At a November 1918 YMCA Overseas War Secretaries' conference, she appeared with a silk poppy pinned to her coat and distributed twenty-five more poppies to attendees. She then campaigned to have the poppy adopted as a national symbol of remembrance.
  At its conference in 1920, the National American Legion adopted the poppy as their official symbol of remembrance. Frenchwoman Madame Guérin was invited to address American Legion delegates at their 1920 Cleveland Convention about 'Inter-Allied Poppy Day.' After the convention, the American Legion too adopted the poppy as its memorial flower and committed to support Madame Guérin in her planned U.S. Poppy Day. It was also following this event that the American Legion christened Madame Guérin as "The Poppy Lady from France." Madame Guérin successfully organized the U.S.'s first nationwide Poppy Day during the week before Memorial Day in May 1921 using silk poppies made by the widows and children of the devastated regions of France.
  When the American Legion stopped using the poppy symbol in favor of the daisy, Veterans of Foreign Wars’ members supported Madame Guérin instead. Using French-made poppies purchased through her, the V.F.W. organized the first veterans' Poppy Day Drive in the US, for the 1922 Memorial Day. In 1924, the Veterans of Foreign Wars patented the Buddy Poppy.
  Madame Guérin's ‘Inter-Allied Poppy Day’ idea was also adopted by military veterans' groups in parts of the British Empire. After the 1921 Memorial Day in the US, Madame Guérin traveled to Canada. After she addressed the Great War Veteran Association on 4 July, the group also adopted the poppy emblem as well as ‘Inter-Allied Poppy Day’ concept. They were the first veterans of the British Empire (predecessor of the Commonwealth of Nations) to do so.
  Madame Guérin sent Colonel Moffat (ex-American Red Cross) to Australia and New Zealand (and probably South Africa) afterwards as her representative. She then traveled to Great Britain, where she informed Field Marshal Douglas Haig and the Royal British Legion about her idea. Because it was an underfunded organization, Madame Guérin paid for the British remembrance poppies herself and the British Legion reimbursed her after the first British Remembrance Day Poppy Day on 11 November 1921.
  James Fox notes that all of the countries which adopted the Remembrance Poppy were victors of World War I.
caption: Moina Michael on a U.S. postage stamp. Michael first proposed using poppies as a symbol of remembrance.
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