In Flander's Fields

The Origin Of The Remembrance Poppy

Captain (later Lieutenant Colonel) John McCrae, wrote this poem in May, 1915 after the Second Battle of Ypres. On May 2, 1915 McCrae had conducted the burial service for his close friend, Alexis Heimer, who was killed during Ypres. On May 3 he wrote Flanders Fields. It was published in Canada (McCrae was from Guelph, Ontario) in December of that year.

McCrae had noticed how poppies grew around the graves of the fallen soldiers and that was the origin of the opening line of the poem. The poem was very popular in Canada and England during World War 1. Ultimately, American, Canadian, and English veterans organizations adopted the red poppy of Flanders as a symbol of remembrance for the war dead.

This is why you see members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars handing out poppy pins in the US on Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day — called Remembrance Day in England and Canada.

McCrae did not survive World War 1. He contracted pneumonia and died in a military hospital in January, 1918.

Poppy field at sunrise. Photo by Ket Sang. Royalty-free license purchased by author.

In Flanders Fields
by John McCrae, May 1915

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.

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