Some background on poet Ltc John McCrae and his poppies

This posting at the UK site commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Great War reveals an interesting background to the creation of McCrae's well-known 1915 poem, "In Flanders Fields."  Beyond the literary conceit that the red poppies grew out of the fallen soldiers' blood in the soil, the ecological reason for the poppies' appearance in Flanders is of equal interest. 


http://www.express.co.uk/news/world-war-1/463717/Grow-with-pride-The-reason-we-remember-WWI-with-poppies

Introduction

The changing nature of war of society's attitude toward war can best be seen, I believe in the writings of the men (largely) and women who fought those wars.  The purpose of this blog is to open a discussion and share views on the nature of 20th and 21st century wars, and of the sensibilities of our warriors. 

I served 20+ years as an Infantryman in the United States Army in the Cold War years beginning immediately after the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam in 1973.  

Along the way I picked up a Masters degree in English literature, where I developed an understanding of the shifting sensibilities of the British war poets.   Their early works (1914-15) kept the truth from public view.  

The newspaper reporters and visiting generals were shown the "model trench," as if that were a general condition across all Flanders.

Yet the reality was quite different.