The Battle of the Somme. It was a blood bath. It was supposed to have shortened the war, and approximately One Million Men were either killed or wounded in this horrific battle that lasted from July to November in 1916. 161 Days. Who can even imagine what they all experienced.
The first and bloodiest day A great link to a BBC narrative explaining in detail how this battle was fought, the reasoning behind it, and its outcome.
WHY THE POPPY ? As a child, we would all wear (and buy) a real poppy to commemorate our fallen soldiers out of respect and remembrance. It was the least we could do. But why a poppy? They (scarlet corn poppies – popaver rhoeas) date back to the Napaleolonic wars when they they were then only flower to transform those barren wastelands, and they they were thought of as “ blood red poppies, growing from the bodies of the fallen soldiers.” After World War 1, once again, it was the poppy that grew and prevailed on those barren battlefields.
“The significance of the poppy as a lasting memorial symbol to the fallen was realised by the Canadian surgeon John McCrae in his poem In Flanders Fields. The poppy came to represent the immeasurable sacrifice made by his comrades and quickly became a lasting memorial to those who died in World War One and later conflicts. It was adopted by The Royal British Legion as the symbol for their Poppy Appeal, in aid of those serving in the British Armed Forces, after its formation in 1921. “Courtesy of the BBC
Now (in America), the poppy has evolved into a paper flower, and many people do not even realize its meaning and significance. The Royal British Legion commemorates this battle on its 100 year Anniversary with a series of pins, each pin commemorating the life of the soldiers who lost their lives so valiantly. My pin commemorates the life of Lance Corporal J. Scott. May he, and all of those brave men, rest in peace.
We all hope that one day we can all live in world peace.
