Flanders Fields, Belgium, 1915: Poppies, the hue of human blood, blow in the gentle breeze. The scarlet blooms decorate thousands of Allied soldier graves. Graves of mud transfused with the blood of fallen brothers.
1,043 American soldiers perished in Belgium during World War I, 368 of whom are interred at Flanders Field American Cemetery. Today, Memorial Day, we remember their courage and the courage of all American veterans by revisiting the story of the vermilion poppies of Flanders Fields.
Flanders Fields is the name for WWI battlefields on the border of northern Belgium and France. The Battle of Passchendaele and the Second Battle of Ypres are well-known battles that took place on Flanders Fields.
Gardening: Poppies a symbol of sacrifice and healing
Candace Barone
We honor loss by finding the joy and beauty in people, places and things that surround us. Our culture ideology identifies that sacrificial loss is perpetually intertwined with the beauty in flowers. And while the outward expression has evolved from personal letters and calls to text messages with emojis, we still offer flowers in support.
This may explain why so many of our rituals and holidays are connected to floral history. Memorial Day is near and takes no exception to the affirmation of flowers and healing.
Sometime between the years of 1915-1917, World War I Canadian Lt. Col John McCrae wrote In Flanders Fields, a poem of grief from the war zone. A surgeon in the 1st Brigade Artillery, he treated injured soldiers in a region between western Belgium and northern France. The battlefield left behind immensely disturbed land that was ripe for limited plant activity. As the buried and remains of falle