In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
John McCrae was born in Guelph, Ontario on November 30, 1878. His family background of Scottish immigrants was military with a strong sense of duty and Presbyterian with a strong sense of spirituality. McCrae joined the Guelph Militia while in High School and when attending the University of Toronto in 1892 joined the Queen's Own Rifles. He studied medicine on a scholarship and tutored to defray expenses. Two of his students became the first female doctors in Ontario. McCrae also studied medicine in England. In 1899 he fought as a Captain in South Africa, but resigned because of what he felt was poor treatment of the ill and injured.
John McCrae was a noted physician who filled his leisure time with poetry, sketching and a love of the sea. Many times he signed on as a seaman to travel between North America and England. In 1914, not unlike many of his generation, for a sense of duty and a sense of adventure McCrae reenlisted for King and Country, a field surgeon with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
McCrae's former student and friend Lt. Alexis Helmer was killed at the Second Battle of Ypres, also known as Flanders Fields. Amid the carnage and sadness John McCrae found an outlet by composing his most famous poem. In Flanders Fields was published in the magazine Punch in December of 1915 and immediately struck a chord with the grieving families and battle weary soldiers. The poppy was adopted as a symbol of remembrance throughout the Commonwealth.
John McCrae suffered from asthma most of his life and passed in the field on January 28, 1918 from complications from pneumonia. His life and work, including his poetry and medical text books, is honoured in museums and schools throughout Canada.
On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 Germany signed the armistice. It is on this date we pay tribute to the sacrifices made during the war to end all - and those which followed.
