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PAWS, FOR THE PURPLE POPPY
A memorial in Grantham, England, surrounded by purple poppies to honour and remember animals who have died in war conflict.
Animals who have died in war efforts are involuntary victims of military combat and heroes in our hearts. Their memory and sacrifices will never be forgotten.
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By DEBBIE MACRAE
It has been told that the enduring Remembrance Day poem, In Flanders Fields was written in the back of an ambulance and discarded in frustration and dissatisfaction by the author, John McCrae. Later retrieved by a fellow serviceman, it was published in the English Magazine Punch, and became tremendously popular for war recruitment, marketing war bonds and war propaganda.
In 1918, as World War I declined, Moina Michaels, a schoolteacher from Athens, Georgia, wrote her own response to McCrae’s poem:
In tribute to the soldiers who sacrificed so much to the conflict, Michaels returned to teaching at the University of Georgia and dedicated her time to a class for disabled servicemen. With increasing respect and awareness of their disabilities, she began creating and selling silk poppies to raise funds for their assistance. In 1921 the American Legion adopted the Poppy as the official symbol of respect and remembrance for veterans of war.
Beachcomber is being presented with his PDSA Dickin medal by Dorothea St. Hill Bourne, secretary of the PDSA Allied Forces Mascot Club. Beachcomber is being held by Sergeant Andre Meischke of the the Royal Corps of Signals. Source: Britain’s People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA).
In France, with similar inspiration, a war widow by the name of Madam Anne Guerin resolved to pick up the cause to help rebuild her war-torn country. She travelled to Canada to sell her hand-crafted poppies, and like the American Legion, the Royal Canadian Legion, along with Britain and Australia, embraced the poppy as their official symbol of remembrance in 1921.
From a purely symbolic perspective, the blood-red poppy evokes images of blood and death and dying. The fields of red poppies were abundant and visual in McCrae’s verse; but poppies also grow in a wealth and variety of colours – and the elegy was not simply a matter of symbolism.
Historically, the poppy has been a symbol of death dating back to at least 4000 BC. In 1935, Spanish cave explorers discovered poppy capsules in baskets beside human remains. Coupled with the powerful morphine opiate derived from the opium poppy and used to alleviate the agonies of war, the poppy has become the symbol of the war dead and a tribute to its veterans.
The fields of Flanders, Gallipolli and northwest France were primarily Eocene clay fields with some sedimentary deposit. Poppies were native to the area. The constant bombardment of nitrogen-rich explosives and lime from the resulting rubble of buildings and equipment, brought the poppy seeds to the surface, creating optimum conditions for their reproduction.
Sadly, the symbolism of those poppies becomes more poignant with the knowledge that it was the death and carnage of more than a million bodies; soldiers, animals and victims of war – that so richly fertilized the soils in which the poppy grew. The more who died – the more they thrived – those flowers of the blood. The exact number is unknown, but it is estimated that more than twenty million people, eight million horses and donkeys, and one million dogs died during the First World War.
The red poppy commemorates the soldier. However, the significant contribution and loss of over ten million animals has not gone unnoticed.
In 2006, a charity called Animal Aid introduced the Purple Poppy, as a means of commemorating those who had no choice about their recruitment. It was not endorsed by The Royal British or the Royal Canadian Legions, which sell the official red poppy in remembrance of its veterans. However, they supported the concept by stating, “We see no conflict in wearing the red poppy next to the purple…”
The stand made by Animal Aid was that animals who died in the war effort were involuntary victims of war, not heroes of public service and they eventually replaced their purple poppy with an enamel badge that commemorates all animal victims.
Previous to adoption of the purple poppy, the PDSA (People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals) Dickin Medal was first introduced in 1943 for “Conspicuous gallantry or devotion to duty while serving in military conflict”. (Wikipedia) A bronze medallion on a striped green, brown and pale blue ribbon – it became, ultimately, the animals’ equivalent to the Victoria Cross.
Between 1943 and 1949 it was awarded to 54 different animals and was revived again in 2000. In 2007, 12 former recipients buried at the PDSA Animal Cemetery were awarded full military honours. In 2014 the Dickin Medal was awarded, on an honorary basis, to all the animals who served in the First World War.
On December 2, 1943, a carrier pigeon by
the name of White Vision, flew in nine hours of bad visibility, heavy weather and strong headwinds to deliver a message that led to the rescue of an aircrew from a ditched aircraft. Winkie and Tyke, two more carrier pigeons, were successful in similar missions, and these three pigeons were the first Dickin Medal recipients.
Their stories are many. Bob worked on patrol in North Africa; a canine mongrel serving with the 6th Battalion Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment.
Beach Comber was a carrier pigeon who served with the Canadian Army and brought the first news of the landings at Dieppe.
CANADIAN ANIMAL HEROES
ABOVE: Harry Colebourn with Winnie at the military base in Valcartier, Quebec, in 1914. (Photo from the Mattick family) BELOW: Winnie, as a cub, with one of the Sergeants from the CAVC. Photo taken 1914 Source: Library and Archives Canada
Our notable Canadian stories are also numerous and remarkable.
Gander, a Newfoundlander, rescued Canadian infantrymen on at least three separate occasions on Hong Kong Island in 1941, eventually dying in action while gathering a hand grenade.
Bunny was a strawberry roan from the Toronto Police Force that survived the action at Vimy Ridge. After the war, only the officer’s horses were returned to Canada, and despite the city’s offer to pay for Bunny’s transport, he was sold to the Belgian government.
Winnie, the Bear, has her story immortalized in the Children’s Classic, Winnie the Pooh, created by A.A. Milne. A bear cub rescued near White River, Ontario, by Lieutenant Harry Colebourn, became the mascot for the Second Canadian Infantry Brigade as they travelled by train to Valcartier, Quebec. He named her Winnipeg, after his home town, and “Winnie” travelled to England, where she was left in the London Zoo in 1915 for safekeeping. She became so beloved by the children of London, he gifted her permanently in 1919, where she died in 1934, over 20 years of age. Milne’s son, Christopher Robin, changed his own teddy bear’s name from Edward Bear to “Winnie the Bear,” and inspired Milne to write the story.
One of our Canadian Ungulate warriors, Sergeant Bill, did a tour of duty to England
Sergeant Bill served as a guardsman (goat), as his heightened hearing ability increased his awareness of danger. SASKATCHEWAN ARCHIVES/R-A10210 (1)-(2)
and then to France. He served as a guardsman (goat) over a Prussian soldier in a crater, despite being injured himself. He also saved the lives of three of his fellow infantrymen, butting them into a trench, seconds before a shell exploded. His heightened hearing ability increased his awareness of danger.
He survived battles at Festubert, Vimy Ridge, Ypress and Passchendaele and endured gases, shelling, and hoof-rot. He was arrested twice, once for devouring army paperwork, however, he redeemed himself with outstanding service, receiving the sergeant’s chevrons, the Mons Star, the British War Medal, and the Victory Medal.
He succeeded against “goatly” odds; for some reason his commanding officer didn’t want to take him to the front, and having arrived, fought, and successfully defeated the enemy, the immigration officer processing his paperwork reluctantly allowed him reentry.
He was finally allowed to parade back to his home and family in Broadview, Saskatchewan, where he retired from the army. He died a short time later, however, his legacy lives on in the Broadview Historical Museum where he has been mounted and preserved with honour.
They loved and were loved and now the purple poppy blows in their honour. WHR
