The Flanders Fields Poppy

Remembering

1914-1918 Reference

Poems

About the site

Encouraged by a positive reaction to the idea by the press and the adoption of the Poppy emblem by subsequent YMCA conferences and a few organisations, Moina Michael was determined to put all her energy towards getting the Poppy emblem adopted in the United States as a national memorial symbol.

She began a tireless campaign at her own expense, starting with a letter to her congressman in December 1918 asking him to put the idea to the War Department, which he immediately did. She wanted to act swiftly so that this new national emblem might be already be produced in the form of pins, on postcards, etc. in time for the signing of peace in June 1919.

After the war the numerous signs related to the war - the Red Cross, War Loan insignia, Service Flags, etc. - which had been evident all over the country during the war would be taken down. Moina considered that a replacement emblem, i.e. the poppy, could be used to fill those empty spaces as a symbolic reminder of those who had not returned home to celebrate the end of the war.

Her religious upbringing inspired her to believe that the Flanders Memorial Poppy was indeed a spiritual symbol with more meaning behind it than pure sentimentalism; she equated the new optimism for a world returned to peace after the "war to end all wars" to the magnificent rainbow which appeared in the sky after the terrible biblical flood.

The Torch and the Poppy Emblem

Originally Moina intended to use the simple red, four petaled poppy of Flanders. But in December 1918 she was put in touch with a designer, Mr Lee Keedick, who offered to design a national emblem under contract; he produced flags and pins of the final design, this being a border of blue on a white background, with the Torch of Liberty and a Poppy entwined in the centre, containing the colours of the Allied Flags, red, white, blue, black, green and yellow.

The first time the Torch and Poppy emblem was used was on 14 February, 1919 in Carnegie Hall, New York City, on the occasion of a lecture given by the Canadian ace pilot, Colonel William A Bishop on "Air Fighting in Flanders Fields". At the end of the lecture a large flag with the emblem on trailed down from the ceiling across the back of the stage.

In spite of the interest raised by the appearance of the new emblem at the time, and Moina's continued efforts to publicise the campaign, this emblem was not taken up by any group or individual to help establish it as a national symbol.

There was so little public interest in the enterprise that eventually the designer, Mr Keedick, abandoned his efforts to pursue the campaign.

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Acknowledgements

The Miracle Flower, The Story of the Flanders Fields Memorial Poppy, by Moina Michael

Copyright Joanna Legg & Graham Parker © 1999 All rights reserved