Hero Worship

The Memorial Day tradition of wearing a red poppy is depicted in Joseph Hirsch's painting of a war veteran.

The tradition started as a response to a poem written by John McCrae, a Canadian World War I soldier. McCrae penned these poignant lines while under fire in a foxhole in France in 1915. The poem was eventually published in Punch magazine and became well known during and after the war.

In Flanders Fields

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.

Source: Brian Gardner, ed. Up the Line to Death: The War Poets, 1914–18 (New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1964).

Pictured: Joseph Hirsch, 1910–81, Hero, about 1939–1940, oil, 41 x 30 1/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from Museum of Modern Art.