Poppy 100 - 4 July 2021 livestream ceremony
100th anniversary of the Poppy • 1h 0m
In July 1921, the Great War Veterans Association, a forerunner of the Royal Canadian Legion, met at the Prince Arthur Hotel in Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada. Inspired by John McCrea’s poem In Flanders Fields, Madame Anna Guérin, “The Poppy Lady of France” presented her idea of the remembrance poppy to the assembled veterans. The GWVA passed a resolution that the poppy be worn on the anniversary of Armistice Day in memory of fallen comrades. On 11 November 1921, poppies were made by the women and children of France and distributed in Canada for the first time under the sponsorship of the GWVA. Within a year, all Legion branches across the Canada wore the poppy as a means of remembrance, a practice that continues to this day.
En juillet 1921, l'Association des anciens combattants de la Grande Guerre, un précurseur de la Légion royale canadienne, s'est réunie à l'hôtel Prince Arthur à Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Inspirée par le poème In Flanders Fields de John McCrea, Madame Anna Guérin, "la dame aux coquelicots de France", a présenté son idée du coquelicot du souvenir aux anciens combattants réunis. La GWVA a adopté une résolution pour que le coquelicot soit porté à l'anniversaire du jour de l'Armistice en mémoire des camarades tombés au combat. Le 11 novembre 1921, des coquelicots ont été fabriqués par les femmes et les enfants de France et distribués au Canada pour la première fois sous le parrainage de la GWVA. En moins d'un an, toutes les filiales de la Légion à travers le Canada portaient le coquelicot en guise de souvenir, une pratique qui se poursuit encore aujourd'hui.
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