If there is one thing which is synonymous with Remembrance Day it is the poppy.

Whether worn by individuals, worked into memorial wreaths, or sold as a fund-raiser for war veterans, the little red flower is universally accepted as a memorial symbol for the war dead.

While many associate the link with the First World War, it was actually after the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th century that fields of red poppies flourished in formerly barren fields destroyed in battle.

Apparently, the scarlet poppy (popaver rhoeas) grows naturally in conditions of disturbed earth throughout western Europe.

Thus it was that, due to the tremendous bombardments of the First World War, poppies also carpeted the fields of France and Flanders, thanks to rubble enriching the soil with lime.

During this war, Lt.Col. John McCrae was a Canadian surgeon serving with the First Brigade, Canadian Forces Artillery in the front lines in Belgium.

There he ceaselessly treated hundreds of wounded soldiers, and also witnessed endless dead bodies lying all around, as well as the gravediggers who buried them.

Inspired by the horrors of war, Lt.Col. MacCrae scrawled his immortal poem, ?In Flanders Fields? on a scrap of paper.

Published by others in 1915, the poppy became a popular and lasting symbol of remembrance for those who died in battle.

Unfortunately, Lt.Col. McCrae never knew the impact his poem would have even to this day, for he died of pneumonia at Wimereux near Boulogne, France on January 28, 1918 when he was just 44 years old.

The custom of wearing a poppy in remembrance of the war dead began in 1918 when an American woman, Moina Michael, initiated the custom while working in a New York City YMCA canteen.

It was her way of remembering the millions who died on the battlefields of the First World War.

When Madame Guerin, the French YMCA Secretary, learned of the custom during a visit to the US, she returned to France with the idea of selling hand-made silk poppies to raise money for destitute children in war-torn areas of her country.

Poppies were first sold in England on Armistice Day in 1921 by members of the British Legion to raise money for veterans incapacitated by the war, and the practice continues to this day in Britain and Commonwealth countries, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

In Bermuda, it is the Bermuda War Veterans Association which faithfully sells the poppies each year on the Friday immediately preceding November 11 as a fund-raiser for its members.