Today marks 99 years since the end of the First World War. Today we observe a minute's silence at 11am to honour and remember those who have died in world wars, the significance of wearing a poppy so we never forget sacrifices made by others, the lives lost and also for the people who returned from war alive.
The reason poppies are used to remember those who have given their lives in battle, is because they are the flowers which grew natively on the battlefields. Ever since then, they have become a symbol of not only those who gave their lives in The War, but all those who have died on behalf of their country.
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.
John McCrae (1872–1918)