| Pamela Sweetman |
Poppy Appeal
Chairman |
2616 Snowy Egret
Way |
Elk Grove, CA
95757 |
916-714-0748 |
E-Mail Pamela |
| Michael Barnes |
Poppy Appeal
Representative |
9921 Maple
Street |
Bellflower, CA
90706 |
526-925-6910 |
E-Mail Michael |
As some of the bloodiest fighting of World
War 1 took place in the Flanders and Picardy regions of Northern
France.
The poppy was the only thing which grew in the aftermath
of the complete devastation. Colonel John
McCrea had served as a gunner in the Boer War, but went to
France in World War One as a medical Officer
with the first Canadian Contingent deeply inspired and moved
by what he saw, wrote these verses:
In
Flanders ' Fields
John McCrea 1915
In Flanders' fields the poppies blow
between the crosses, row on row,
that mark our place: and in the sky
the larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders ' fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe;
to you from failing hands we throw
the torch; be yours to hold it high,
if ye break faith with us who die
we shall not sleep, though poppies grow