Which poem helped inspire the red poppy as an international remembrance symbol?

“In Flanders Fields” helped inspire the red poppy as an international remembrance symbol.

Canadian physician and lieutenant colonel John McCrae wrote the poem during World War I. It describes poppies growing among the graves of soldiers in the Flanders region of Belgium and urges the living to continue the struggle. The poem was published in 1915 and became one of the war’s most widely known English-language poems.

Its imagery helped connect red poppies with battlefield remembrance. Moina Michael, an American educator, read the poem and promoted the sale and wearing of poppies to support veterans. The American Legion later developed a major poppy program in the United States.

The poem is often connected with both Memorial Day and November remembrance observances. It should not be confused with “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke or “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, two other famous World War I poems.