Remembrance Sunday

   

By Special Collections Toronto Public Library from Toronto, Canada (In Flanders' Fields)

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.

John McCrae (1915)

During the early days of the second battle of Ypres, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer a young Canadian artillery officer was killed when a German shell exploded at his feet. A close friend of his was Major John McCrae, a Canadian military doctor and artillery commander who officiated at his burial. The next morning John McCrae wrote the poem which is one of the most famous war poems ever written which inspired the use of the poppy as a symbol of rememberance.

Sadly he died in January 1918 of pneumonia and meningitis in Wimeraux, France. He was 45 years old.

You can read more about John McCrae's life here. There are some wonderful photographs of him, his dog & also his horse.