The bleuet de France is the symbol used in France to finance War Veterans, very similar the the Poppy. The bleuet de France is available for sale on 11 November and 08 May each year. Similar to the poppy this flower continued to grow in land devastated by shelling and military activity.This pin is an original.A Blue metal flower (cornflower) on a metal lapel pin.bleuet de france, poppy like flower

'Menin Gate at midnight' was painted by Will Longstaff to commemorate those soldiers with no marked graves on the Western Front during the First World War; also known as 'Ghosts of Menin Gate'. Longstaff attended a ceremony dedicating the Menin Gate memorial to the soldiers of the British empire forces, just outside the town of Ypres, Belgium, on 24 July 1927. The memorial was dedicated to the 350,000 men of the British and Empire forces who had died in battles around Ypres, and bears the names of 55,000 men with no known grave, over 6,000 of whom were Australians. Longstaff was profoundly moved by what he witnessed and that night, unable to sleep, Longstaff returned to Menin Road and later claimed to have had a vision of spirits of the dead rising out of the soil around him. On returning to his studio in London he painted 'Menin Gate at midnight' in a single session. Today 'Menin Gate at midnight' has achieved the status of a national icon. The painting retains its ability to provoke an emotional response and to communicate the scale of the loss of life and the devastation of war. However as people now have a very different understanding of war, the painting serves a slightly different function. Whereas in the past people responded to the painting as it related to the loss of a loved one and their own personal grief, now the painting communicates the loss experienced by a whole generation. The vast number of those who were killed, and the immensity of the damage wrought during the First World War, requires that those who sacrificed their lives should not be forgotten. Longstaff used well-known motifs to trigger emotion. His scarlet poppies are flowers that could be found in the Flanders fields, but they also carry the traditional connotations of shed blood and remembrance; they represent a floral blanket covering the bloodied bodies of unknown soldiers; at the same time, like the paper poppies worn on Remembrance Day, they are a tribute from the living to the dead. The portrayal of the steel-helmeted soldiers rising from the cornfields extends the range of visual emblems used by Longstaff: the plentiful harvest; the harvest of men; the steel-helmeted crosses covering the graves of many soldiers; and the helmeted bayonets raised in cheer and victory.ww1, menin gate, wark vc club

Collection of 39 black and white photographs. Some photographs with handwritten annotations in what looks like the handwriting of J.L. Provan. Mostly at Burnley, some at Moorabbin. (1) "Opium Poppy 1942 Burnley. Publicity Branch Department of Agriculture." Negative in envelope marked, "Prints 1 of No. 398 Department of Agriculture 'McP.' " (2) Grape vine and cabbages. (3) Rows of seedlings in the Orchard. (4) Orange tree? unpruned. (5) Flowers. (6) "Double and single rows of French Beans." (7) "Sage & marjoram." (8) Hydrangeas. (9)Sprinkler on newly planted cabbages. (10a)"Lettuce Iceberg 1/1/43." Seeds on soil surface. (10b) "Lettuce Iceberg 1/1/43." Seedlings emerging. (11)? planted in terracotta pipes. (12) Rows of seedlings in the Orchard. (13) "A student sowing Parsnip seed in a drill row. School of Horticulture Burnley Gardens." (14) Student distributing fertilizer? (15) Similar. (16) Similar. (17a) Flowers. (17b) Flowers. (18)"Beetroot Crimson Globe." (19) A seed drill. (20)Canna. (21a) Vegetable rows. (21b) ? (22) Student hoeing. (23) Student hoeing. (24) Similar. (26) "Cabbage Burbees Allhead 2/2/43," seedlings. (27) Water, manure, etc. (28) "Celery beds Ray Marriott Moorabbin April 2nd 1943." (29-37) Also at Moorabbin probably: (29) Vegetables. (30) Onions. (31) Vegetables. (32) Planting seedlings. (33) Vegetables. (34) Celery, carrots, turnips on display. (35) Carrots growing and just pulled up. (36) Peas. (37) Ploughing with horse. (38) Student spraying vegetables at Burnley. (39) House?j.l. provan, burnley, moorabbin, opium poppy, grape vine, cabbages, seedlings, orchards, orange trees, flowers, french beans, sage, marjoram, hydrangea, sprinkler, lettuce iceberg, seeds, students sowing, parsnips, school of horticulture burnley gardens, beetroot, hoeing, water, manure, celery, vegetables beds, ray marriott, onions, carrots, turnips, peas, ploughing, horse, spraying