The red poppy, which came to prominence after the poem In Flanders Fields, caught on as a memorial to fallen soldiers of World War I and has come to symbolise all service people who have fallen in action.
Every year proceeds from the sale of the poppies go toward the welfare of returned service people.
In Flanders Fields is a war poem in the form of a rondeau written by Canadian physician Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres.
According to legend, fellow soldiers retrieved the poem after McCrae, initially dissatisfied with his work, discarded it.
In Flanders Fields was first published on December 8 of that year in the London-based magazine Punch. It is one of the most popular and most quoted poems from the war. As a result of its immediate popularity, parts of the poem were used in propaganda efforts and appeals to recruit soldiers and raise money selling war bonds.
