The bleuet is the French equivalent to the poppy. it is the humble blue cornflower, and it flourished on the field of battle much as did the poppy. Its creation preceded that of the poppy: this emblem was established in 1916 by a Mme Suzanne Lenhardt, nurse-major at themilitary hospital of the Invalides and Mme Charlotte Malleterre. The former was the widow of a captain of the Colonial Infantry who was killed in 1915, the latter the daughter of a French general. The two were deeply moved by the suffering of the wounded soldiers in their charge, and sought to reintegrate them into society where practical. They established small workshops where the disabled soldiers produced the bleuets which were initially made out of cloth and paper. These emblems were sold to the public, and the money raised was paid to the soldiers.
On the 15 September 1920, Louis Fontenaille, president of the Mutilés de France,proposed in a report to the Fédération Interalliée des Anciens Combattants at Brussels thatthe Bleuet de France should remain forever the symbolic flower of the « Morts pour la France ».
In 1928, the President of the Republic, Gaston Doumergue, granted his patronage to the Bleuet de France. The sales progressively increased throughout the country, with the legend « the Nation wants to declare its recognition and assistance to those men who have sacrificed their youth to the defence of France » For the commemoration of the 11 November 1934, 128,000 flowers were sold.
From 1935, the French state made official the sale of the Bleuet de France throughout the country for the Armistice commemoration.
In 1957, a second day was authorised for the wearing of the bleuet. That is the 8th May, the anniversary of the surrender of German forces at the end of the European theatre of war in 1945.
The term 'bleuets' was also applied by the old French soldiers (poilus) to their own fresh troops who appeared on the front line in 1915 in the new uniform of the day, which was made from a pale sky blue cloth - thankfully a much less conspicuous colour than the red woolentrousers worn by the old hands up till then.
Val says this research is part of a post in the patrimoine label sent by Ross Jenkins. See if you can spot any one wearing a bleuet today at the monument de morts, we could not last year. I must ask our young French neighbours if they would wear them or remember them.Sad to see it go.I wonder if the Dutch have a symbol?
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