Summer’s Bloom

Tied to the wartorn earth of Flanders, a poppy rises above a thick patch of daisies to face the sun. A strong gust of wind from the northeast sends its scarlet bloom downward into a fluttering swirl, but the little flower holds its ground.

Each year millions of people turn to the simple poppy as the most easily identifiable expression of remembrance and sacrifice. We see it every time we hear John McCrae’s famous poem or think about a loved one lost or wounded by war. It is all at once an emblem of gratitude, hope and perseverance, and its haunting beauty can fill us with an abundance of silent resolve.

Perhaps this is why many Canadian gardeners ‘embrace’ the Flanders poppy, and are proud to include Papaver Rhoeas in amongst their flowerbeds as summertime tributes to remembrance. With this in mind, we are pleased to share with you a few photos of the poppy’s summer bloom on the battlefields of Northwest Europe.

PHOTO: NATALIE SALAT

In the hand of a visitor to Normandy in July 2003.

PHOTO: DAN BLACK

Second World War veteran Fred Budge and Cynthia Dufault are surrounded by poppies near St. Lambert-sur-Dives during the 1996 Dominion Command Youth Leaders’ Pilgrimage of Remembrance.

PHOTO: DAN BLACK

Poppies and daisies are stirred by a gentle breeze near Caen, France, in 2003.

PHOTO: TOM MacGREGOR

The Canadian flag flies over fields of poppies at Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery, France, in 1991.

PHOTO: TRACY RAMSAY

Dew glistens on a poppy photographed during the Legion’s 1986 Youth Leaders’ Pilgrimage of Remembrance to Northwest Europe.

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