Why wear a poppy on Memorial Day?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
May 27, 2002
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The Ultimate World War II, & Last Days of World War II—>Click here.
John Gerard (The Herbal, 1633 ed.), "Of Corne-rose or wild Poppy...They grow in arable grounds, among wheat, spelt, rye, barley, oats, and other grains, and in the borders of fields...The fields are garnished and overspread with these wild poppies in June and August."
The red poppy (Papaver rhoeas Linnaeus) is native to Eurasia. Ecologically, this annual species is a pioneer, invading fields and places of disturbed soils. The red poppy filled a niche or role when the world was wild, and became a weed in a world under cultivation.
Though considered a weed, Gerard spoke kindly of the flowers, "The stalks of red Poppy be black, tender, and brittle, somewhat hairy: the leaves are cut round about with deep gashes...the flowers grow forth at the tops of the stalks, being of a beautiful and gallant red color..."
A sergeant-major, Cyril Allinson said the wind was blowing gently on the morning of May 3, 1915. No fields in Flanders were under cultivation during those years; the land was devastated by the Second Battle of Ypres. Major John McCrae, a Canadian surgeon, later wrote that it had been "Seventeen days of Hades!" in the battle dressing station on Essex Farm.
But on that morning, McCrae sat alone writing a poem. He had buried a friend the night before. Allinson is said the first to read the poem "...an exact description of the scene." Three hundred and eighteen years after Gerard wrote of the gallant red color; McCrae wrote, "In Flanders fields the poppies blow between the crosses, row on row...."
Lost Poets of the Great War, a hypertext document by Harry Rusche of the English Department of Emory University has "In Flanders Fields" posted. To read the poem written by John McCrae, click on the link:
http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/LostPoets/McCrae.html 
To learn more about the U.S. Memorial Day, click on the link:
http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html
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Suggested Reading:
How did the rubber tree change war? Plants that Changed History - September 24, 2002
What is Napalm? Plants that Changed History - October 8, 2002
What is Harry Lauder's walking stick? What's in a Name? - March 11, 2005
What is khaki? Herbal Folklore - May 26, 2003
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Leather A-2 Flight Jacket
National Geographic®
National Geographic performed an important service during World War II as we supplied maps to the Allies. Maps were often sewn in to the lining of the A-2 flight jackets in case the pilots were shot down over enemy territory.
This is a reproduction of the historical WWII flight jackets, originally issued in 1931 and then worn by the allied pilots who flew perilous missions over wartime terrain, and the
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lining features a re-creation of the survival maps of southern France. A surface of vintage French lamb leather adds to the authenticity.
Features include some of the customizations that pilots preferred, such as the wind flap, front zipper with storm flap, hidden snap-down collar points, knit cuffs and waistband, and flap-top and side-entry pockets. Imported.
Men's sizes M (38-40), L (42-44), XL (46-48).
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Sheepskin B-3 Flight Jacket
National Geographic®
This authentic B-3 jacket became the military-issued cold-weather flight jacket in 1934, and it is still the warmest and most insulating bomber jacket made.
Aviators in WWII bombers came to rely on their B-3 jackets as they often flew their missions over Europe in unpressurized cabins, where air temperatures could drop to more than 60 degrees below zero.
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Our B-3 is made from an amazingly soft and supple genuine sheepskin with a classic, aged look and deep-pile natural shearling along the body, sleeves, and collar. With double straps under the collar and straps at the waist that cinch to adjust the fit and keep out wind. Traditional leather welted seams and side-entry pockets are authentic details from the original. Made in U.S.A.
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The Ultimate World War II DVD Collection
The History Channel®
For the United States, for the Earth and for all of its citizens, the Second World War was the defining event of the 20th century. In its wake nations were destroyed and formed, the globe was split between superpowers, millions perished or became dispossessed and the truest face of humanity at its most demonic and most heroic was exposed. The World War II experience has never been captured as accurately and thoroughly as it has in this stunning collection of DVDs from THE HISTORY CHANNEL
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THE HISTORY CHANNEL ULTIMATE COLLECTIONS: WORLD WAR II is a comprehensive and intimate survey of this epic war featuring nearly 30 of its greatest World War II documentaries, each packed with original archival footage, interviews with military experts and historians, and gripping reenactments.
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- GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR: RETURN OF A LEGEND: The great MacArthur helped win World War II with a simple promise: "I shall return."
- OKINAWA: THE FINAL BATTLE: Relive the final engagement of World War II, in which over 250,000 people joined in a desperate fight.
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Last Days of World War II DVD Collection
The History Channel®
As World War II neared completion; the Axis powers tried increasingly desperate strategies in last-ditch efforts to slow the Allies' inexorable advance. THE LAST DAYS OF WWII is a comprehensive, step-by-step account of the crucial decisions and personalities that culminated in Allied victory. Each DVD in this 26-disk collection focuses on a specific week during the last seven months of WWII.
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This set includes:
- February 18 - February 24 - The battle for Iwo Jima begins--one of the bloodiest of World War II. Follow the action in this series that details, week by week, the last six months of World War II and explores the high and low points of the march to war's end.
- February 25 - March 3 - In the Battle for the Rhineland, an estimated 8.5 million people are on the move in Germany. The backbone of the Luftwaffe, Germany's once mighty Air Force, has been broken. Hitler is now visibly shaken.
- March 4 - March 10 - As World War II neared completion, the Axis powers tried increasingly desperate strategies in last-ditch efforts to slow the Allies' inexorable advance. THE LAST DAYS OF WWII is a comprehensive, step-by-step account of the crucial decisions and personalities that culminated in Allied victory.
- March 11 - March 17 - The B-29s blitz and the U.S. Air Force's new low-level bombing tactics using incendiary bombs prove deadly for the Japanese. General Curtis LeMay hopes to force a Japanese surrender before American ground forces are scheduled to invade the mainland.
- March 18 - March 24 - In this episode, Allied forces commanded by generals Montgomery, Bradley, and Devers are poised to make their way across the Rhine and head for Berlin.
- March 25 - March 31 - As March of '45 drew to a close, even the most steadfast Germans could see the inevitable end, and thousands of troops surrendered to the Allied forces as they raced from the Rhine to Berlin.
- April 1 - April 7 - By the first week of April, 1944, tensions among the Allies were heating up. When Eisenhower decided to stop his advance at Elbe River, it let the Soviets take Berlin.
- April 8 - April 14 - Berlin lies in ruins. Nearly 120,000 people are homeless. FDR's sudden death stuns the world. Tension among the Allies builds as the gulf of distrust between Stalin and Churchill widens. The Ruhr industrial area west of Berlin is now nearly conquered.
- April 15 - April 21 - As the Red Army's assault on Berlin begins, Hitler passes his 56th birthday in a bunker deep below the city. The Seventh Army captures Nuremburg while the Soviet government starts laying the groundwork for the Cold War in a treaty with Poland.
- April 22 - April 28 - Berlin has been reduced to rubble, setting the stage for the Red Army's entry. Benito Mussolini's brutal murder forces Hitler to consider that his "Thousand Year Reich" is at an end, even though prisoners are still being marched to the death camps.
- April 29 - May 5 - After weeks of battles and political squabbles among the Allies, Berlin finally falls. But Hitler does not live to see his capital overrun, choosing instead to commit suicide in his bunker. While some Nazi forces still fight, the real battle rages in the Pacific, where the Japanese launch a massive counter-offensive at Okinawa.
- May 6 - May 12 - In London, Paris, New York, and Moscow, people take to the streets celebrating victory. Denmark, Norway, and the Channel Islands are liberated. However, in the Pacific Theater there is still heavy fighting on Okinawa and in the Philippines.
- May 13 - May 19 - As the last remnants of the Nazi regime are dismantled, the "Big 3" nations set about the daunting task of rebuilding a continent shattered by nearly six years of war.
- May 20 - May 26 - Okinawa--the last stepping stone on the way to mainland Japan. The Allied High Command deems the island's capture absolutely vital, but the already difficult fight is complicated when the region is hit by torrential rain and the battlefield becomes a quagmire.
- May 27 - June 2 - Fighting on Okinawa intensifies as the Japanese begin their retreat. Enemy forces on the island of Borneo send hundreds of Australian and British soldiers on a death march across the island, while US forces continue to wipe out scattered opposition on the Philippines.
- June 3 - June 9 - U.S. forces make further advances in the Philippines while fanatical Japanese troops continue to hold out on the Pacific Island of Okinawa. With the War in Europe over, King Haakon of Norway triumphantly returns to his country after five years of exile and the Big Four meet to discuss the division of Germany into four main occupation zones.
- June 10 - June 16 - On Okinawa, a U.S. victory is now in sight, while in the Philippines, the Japanese are holed up in the Sierra Madre Mountains. In Germany, Marshal Zhukov confers the Soviet Order of Victory - made of diamond-encrusted platinum - on Eisenhower and Montgomery. Eisenhower is also awarded the Order of Merit--Britain's most prestigious honor--and the Freedom of the City of London.
- June 17 - June 23 - After three months of some of the bitterest fighting of the entire war, the Japanese finally cease trying to defend Okinawa against US forces. At dawn the Japanese commander, Lt. General Mitsuru Ushijima emerges from his bunker in a cave and commits ritual suicide in front of his shocked and demoralized staff officers.
- June 24 - June 30 - In Moscow, more than 200 captured Nazi banners are ceremonially dragged across a rain-soaked Red Square and thrown to the ground in front of Lenin's tomb to the rumble of hundreds of drums. British bombers destroy the bridge over the River Kwai that the Japanese had forced weak and suffering Allied POWs to build.
- July 1 - July 7 - 33,000 Australian troops land in the Great Sundra Islands and win control of Asia's richest oil regions. In Manila, General Douglas MacArthur declares the Philippines free from Japanese occupation. In Berlin, the first US occupation troops arrive as Allied forces hold a victory parade.
- July 8 - July 14 - In Indochina, Chinese forces advance rapidly eastwards and cut the last link between the Japanese army and its garrison, while the US 3rd Fleet joins the attack on Tokyo for the first time. In Berlin, US and British troops take control of their allotted sectors from the Red Army.
- July 15 - July 21 - In Europe, the war's aftermath is gaining steam: the Municipal Council in Berlin confiscates the property of former Nazi party members while President Truman and Prime Minister Churchill arrive in Potsdam for the "Big Three" conference.
- July 22 - July 28 - In Burma, 5,000 Japanese troops, trapped in the Pegu Hills, attempt to make a break east towards the Sittang River. In the Philippines, all organized Japanese resistance in the Sarangani Bay area ends. At the Potsdam Conference, President Truman announces that the atom bomb will be used against the Japanese as soon after August 3 as is possible.
- July 29 - August 4 - As the noose tightens inexorably around Japan, they suffer the indignity of repeated defeats. But with their forces on the defensive throughout the Pacific, a submarine strikes a symbolic blow for the fading empire, sinking the U.S. heavy cruiser Indianapolis.
- August 5 - August 11 - In Japan, massive air raids culminate when the world's first atom bomb is dropped on Hiroshima. Around 80,000 people died in a blast that destroyed 60% of the city. Many more are severely injured, while others will die later from radiation sickness.
- August 12 - August 18 - In Tokyo, the Japanese government at last accepts the inevitable and surrenders to the Allies unconditionally. President Truman declares that "this is the day we've been waiting for since Pearl Harbor."
Last Days of World War II DVD Collection
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