Memorial Day Tribute: In Flanders Fields (Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae)

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae was a battlefield surgeon during World War I; he served with Canadian forces in Belgium. When a close friend was killed in action, Colonel McCrae chose to conduct the burial service himself.

He noticed that wild poppies grew on the graves of fallen soldiers there in a place called Flanders, and later learned that wild poppies grow abundantly in that part of the world in soil that has been dug up and turned. He later sat down and wrote this poem. But, as the story goes, he was not happy with it, so he crumpled it up and threw it away. One of his medical staff saved it and later asked Colonel McCrae to submit it for publication. The rest, as they say, is history.

The John McCrae Memorial Museum now sits on the site where McCrae wrote this classic poem.

It’s a worthy tribute to the fallen from all wars. 

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.