Poppies for Comrades

THE South African Legion of Military Veterans is encouraging people to wear a remembrance poppy at the Comrades Marathon on Sunday, and will also erect an avenue of poppies in front of the Wall of Honour along the route.

Wear your poppy with pride on Comrades Day, not only as a memorial to the glorious dead of the past, but as a symbol of life and the hope of peace for the future.

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Post a picture on Instagram using the hashtag #salegion #wearapoppy #werememberthem #comrades2017 and you could be the lucky winner of a four-night mid-week break at Banana Beach Holiday Resort.

Collect your poppies at the Comrades Expo where you’ll find the SA Legion at stand number B13, or pick up one along the route. SA Legion members will also be handing poppies to the runners to put on Arthur’s Seat during the run.

The SA Legion of Military Veterans is a charitable organisation formed in 1921. Its purpose is to assist and support South African military veterans and their families who have fallen on hard times.

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The epic World War 1 poem, In Flanders Fields, by the Canadian doctor, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, was the inspiration behind the adoption of the remembrance poppy as a memorial to those men and women who made the supreme sacrifice during that tragic conflict.

The Comrades Marathon and the remembrance poppy share a unique moment of conception. When Vic Clapham returned from military service in 1918, he set out to create a memorial to those South Africans who died on the battlefields.

His dream was a foot race between the cities of Pietermaritzburg and Durban. After three years of endeavour, his dream materialised when the first Comrades Marathon was staged in 1921.

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