In Flanders Fields
By
Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
In Flanders Fields the poppies blowBetween 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.
Lt. Col John McCrae died in France, on January 28, 1918. He was a physician and veteran of the Boer Wars, when he spent seventeen days, in 1915 at Ypres, Belgium, the sight of five major battles during World War I, which gave birth to the wars use of trench warfare and mustard gas. The doctor had witnessed the death of a friend and former student, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, and presided over his funeral; overcome with grief he reached for pen and paper and wrote these lines. I reprint them now in honor of Veteran’s Day, as we remember the men and women who so valiantly served us in the past and who walk that line today.
