On this Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, today’s blog post is on the 1948 Moina Michael The Poppy Lady stamp.

I’ve been thinking about the poem “In Flanders Fields” today.  It has been wonderful to discover there was a stamp in 1948 for recognizing a World War I volunteer, Moina Michael, who not only loved the poem, she was “… a primary contributor to the use of poppies as a memorial for veterans of that conflict.”

My blog post from 2015 on “In Flanders Fields” talked about the history of the poem and included this oil on canvas ‘“In Flanders Field-Where Soldiers Sleep and Poppies Grow (Coquelicots), Poppies by artist Robert Vonnoh, American Impressionist painter.’

About the 1948 Moina Michael The Poppy Lady stamp

At Mystic Stamp Company they are showing the 1948 stamp along with this description –

“… Michael was so inspired by John McCrae’s poem In Flanders Fields, that she wore a red poppy every day as a symbol of remembrance.

The opening lines of McCrae’s poem are, “In Flanders fields the poppies blow, between the crosses row on row.” It’s one of the most famous wartime poems. Michael wrote a poem in response called We Shall Keep the Faith. After the war, Michael, a professor at the University of Georgia, raised money for disabled veterans in need by selling silk poppies.”

 This Fleetwood First Day Cover Envelope was one of several they are showing available for sale.

Anchors Aweigh,