To be fair - the original poem, “In Flanders Fields” which mentioned the poppies was written by LCol. John McCrae - a Canadian medical officer - I just wrote a backgrounder on him for my military Public Affairs course.
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.*
Remembrance Day in Canada is alway November 11, and the ceremonies start at 11:00 (11 hour of the 11th day of the 11th month)
I live in Maryland, and I have a poppy (from Canada). I will wear it on my lapel for the next few weeks - but I don’t really need to wear a coat. I’ll keep it in my car on my visor and pop it on when I get out, like I always did at home in Canada. I was raised by an Army father and then Air Force step-father, and in my mind it would be disrespectful to not honour the sacrifices made by servicemen.
I remember Veteran’s Day poppies from when I was a kid, in the 70’s, but I haven’t seen them in a long time. I asked my mother about it, and she said her father always bought the whole family crepe paper poppies made by the local wounded vets to wear for Veteran’s Day when she was in the 40’s, and everybody in her small Texas town wore them. They called Veteran’s Day “poppie day.”
During my last three years in New York, I always wore a poppy (that I had from Canada) from Nov 1-11. Nobody I met ever knew why I was wearing it, and most people were barely aware that November 11th was Veterans Day.
)