As we approach the 2023 Memorial Day weekend, I hope we all take some time to remember and thank the men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Memorial Day is for those who died while they were in battle or from suffered wounds from a battle while wearing a United States military uniform.
When I was a child, my Nana would always give me a poppy to wear during the entire Memorial Day weekend. My Nana was born in 1908 and had vivid memories of her childhood and how our country respected those who fought and died in WWI and WWII. I hope you enjoy the following article which describes why we wear a poppy during a Memorial Day weekend.
From 1914 to 1918, World War 1 took a greater human toll than any previous conflict, with some 8.5 million soldiers dead of battlefield injuries or disease. The Great War, as it was then known, also ravaged the landscape of Western Europe, where most of the fiercest fighting took place. From the devastated landscape of the battlefields, the red poppy would grow and, thanks to a famous poem, become a powerful symbol of remembrance.
Across northern France and Flanders (northern Belgium), the brutal clashes between Allied and Central Powers soldiers tore up fields and forests, tearing up trees and plants and wreaking havoc on the soil beneath. But in the warm early spring of 1915, bright red flowers began peeking through the battle-scarred land: Papaver rhoeas, known variously as the Flanders poppy, corn poppy, red poppy and corn rose. As Chris McNab, author of āThe Book of the Poppy,ā wrote in an excerpt published in the Independent, the brilliantly colored flower is actually classified as a weed, which makes sense given its tenacious resilience.
Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian who served as a brigade surgeon for an Allied artillery unit, spotted a cluster of poppies that spring, shortly after the Second Battle of Ypres. McCrae tended to the wounded and got a firsthand look at the carnage of that clash, in which the Germans unleashed lethal chlorine gas for the first time in the war. Some 87,000 Allied soldiers were killed, wounded or went missing in the battle (as well as 37,000 on the German side); a friend of McCraeās, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, was among the dead.
Struck by the sight of bright red blooms on broken ground, McCrae wrote a poem, āIn Flanders Field,ā in which he channeled the voice of the fallen soldiers buried under those hardy poppies. Published in Punch magazine in late 1915, the poem would be used at countless memorial ceremonies and became one of the most famous works of art to emerge from the Great War. Its fame had spread far and wide by the time McCrae himself died, from pneumonia and meningitis, in January 1918.
Across the Atlantic, a woman named Moina Michael read āIn Flanders Fieldā in the pages of Ladiesā Home Journal that November, just two days before the armistice. A professor at the University of Georgia at the time the war broke out, Michael had taken a leave of absence to volunteer at the New York headquarters of the Young Womenās Christian Association (YWCA), which trained and sponsored workers overseas. Inspired by McCraeās verses, Michael wrote her own poem in response, which she called āWe Shall Keep Faith.ā
As a sign of this faith, and a remembrance of the sacrifices of Flanders Field, Michael vowed to always wear a red poppy; she found an initial batch of fabric blooms for herself and her colleagues at a department store. After the war ended, she returned to the university town of Athens and came up with the idea of making and selling red silk poppies to raise money to support returning veterans.
Michaelās campaign to create a national symbol for remembranceāa poppy in the colors of the Allied nationsā flags entwined around a victory torchādidnāt get very far at first. But in mid-1920, she managed to get Georgiaās branch of the American Legion, a veteranās group, to adopt the poppy (minus the torch) as its symbol. Soon after that, the National American Legion voted to use the poppy as the official U.S. national emblem of remembrance when its members convened in Cleveland in September 1920.
Other nations soon followed suit in adopting the poppy as their official symbol of remembrance. Today, nearly a century after World War I ended, millions of people in the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Belgium, Australia and New Zealand don the red flowers every November 11 (known as Remembrance Day or Armistice Day) to commemorate the anniversary of the 1918 armistice. According to McNab, the Poppy Factory (now located in Richmond, England and Edinburgh, Scotland) is still the center of poppy production, churning out as many as 45 million poppies made of various materials each year.
In the United States, the tradition has developed a little differently. Americans donāt typically wear poppies on November 11 (Veterans Day), which honors all living veterans. Instead, they wear the symbolic red flower on Memorial Dayāthe last Monday in Mayāto commemorate the sacrifice of so many men and women who have given their lives fighting for their country.
āIn Flanders Fieldsā by John McCrae
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.
This coming Tuesday, Kate Hall, Executive Director of the Northbrook Library and author, will talk about the importance of literacy. She will also share what is new at the at the library.
On Tuesday we will have sheets at each table for you to fill out and recommend YOUR "Good Read". Bring a title of your favorite to share with the club! Guess what Kate's favorite book is?
As you know, we try to keep these emails to one per week. But with the Governors Line headed to International Convention with a significant time zone difference, I didn't want to miss the chance to share this opportunity with all.
My email yesterday spoke of the moving presentation from Ramesh Ferris at District Conference. For those of you who were not there, the Northwestern University Rotaract Club has a great opportunity:
On Tuesday, May 30th at 7:30 pm over Zoom, we will be hearing a presentation on Polio awareness and prevention from guest Ramesh Ferris. Ramesh is a Polio Survivor who resides in Whitehorse, Yukon. He has travelled throughout Canada, India, USA, Puerto Rico, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, all to convince more people to support the end of polio. Ramesh has spoken to delegates at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City and to many, many Rotarians at various Zone Institutes and District Conferences. In 2010, he raised C$300,000 for polio eradication by hand-cycling across Canada. His efforts are tireless, and we are so thrilled to welcome him into our club space!
His speech will be over Zoom. He will remain online for Q and A. At 8:15, we will screen Dare to Dream: How Rotary Became the Heart and Soul of Polio Eradication to raise awareness of polio and celebrate vaccine efforts. Dare to Dream is a high-quality, full-length documentary film that tells the story of how a small group of visionary Rotary leaders dared to set a breathtaking goal of eradicating polio for all of the children of the world.
This meeting is open to any Rotarian. You may attend the full program in person, or just attend the Zoom portion of the program online. Thanks to Aimee Resnick for sharing this information.
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) is an intensive leadership experience organized by Rotary clubs and districts where teens develop skills as leaders while having fun and making connections.
Last Tuesday - our Club is hosted the awards for our 8 RYLA students.
Last Thursday, in lieu of our regular meeting, the Satellite club hosted a night of service at Feed My Starving Children in Libertyville.
We filled 1092 bags of soy based food for people in Haiti. The volunteers hand-packed nutritious meals specifically designed to assist in reversing and preventing undernutrition. These meals are sent all across the globe to children in need. It was a very productive hour and a half!
Rotarians in attendance included Jodi Joffe; Peter Samuelson; Andy Vass; Denis Pollina; Tim Schotke; Irwin Friedman. Guests included Susan Kanar; Brandon Joffe.
Reported by Jodi Joffe
Our Spring Blood Drive is set for Saturday, 06/17/23, from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, at Sunset Foods in downtown Northbrook. Culver's once again will generously donate a pint when you give a pint of blood.
To make an appointment to donate you can either call 877-258-4825 or visit vitalan.org and use code: ORDONV32.
To volunteer during this event, please contact me at gary3540@aol.com.