In 1916, a nurse at the Hôpital des Invalides, deeply moved by the sight of soldiers returning from the front with injuries sustained during the Great War, decided to ease their pain and distract them from their boredom by inviting them to make paper cornflowers. Like the poppy for the British and Commonwealth countries, this flower, capable of growing even in the mud of the trenches, has for a hundred years symbolized remembrance and solidarity with wounded soldiers, their widows, and victims of terrorism.
A terrible conflict, so much so that it was nicknamed by its contemporaries as “the war to end all wars” (at least, that was their hope), World War I not only caused more than 9 million deaths and missing persons (4 million in France), it also left its share of wounded and maimed (3.5 million individuals), including the infamous “gueules cassées” (broken faces). In 1916, the “terrible year” of the Battle of Verdun (February 21 to December 18), an initiative was launched at the Hôpital des Invalides: the making of paper cornflowers.
At dawn on November 11, 1918, the French general staff signed the armistice in the presence of a German delegation in a railway carriage belonging to the Compagnie des Wagons-Lits, in the forest of Compiègne, a short distance from the village of Rethondes, in the Hauts-de-France region.
Thus, on each anniversary of the 1918 armistice, it is customary to wear insignia in the shape of cornflowers (made of paper or metal) in one’s buttonhole. These are sold by the state in order to financially support war wounded of yesterday and today and, more generally, to “help those who remain,” which is its primary mission.
A tender heart and a tough flower
Although the French chose the cornflower as a symbol to commemorate veterans and war wounded, the reason for this choice is not to be found in the language of flowers. According to this language, this wild plant evokes delicacy and shyness and is “the messenger of all pure, naive, or delicate feelings.”
Its bright blue color is reminiscent of the horizon blue uniforms of the French infantry from 1915 to 1921. This color is inseparable from the poilus, located between “bluish iron gray” and “sky blue”, adopted by the general staff in 1912 on the grounds that it was more difficult to target than blue and red uniforms. This similarity also led to the soldiers themselves being nicknamed “les bleuets”.
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Featured Photo: DR
