The
idea of an alternative poppy dates back to 1926, just a few years after
the red poppy came to be used in Britain. A member of the No More War
Movement suggested that the British Legion should be asked to imprint
'No More War' in the centre of the red poppies and failing this
pacifists should make their own flowers.
In 1933 the
Co-operative Women's Guild produced the first white poppies to be worn
on Armistice Day (later called Remembrance Day).
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
In Flanders' Fields.
John McCrae