A Canadian Medical Officer,
Colonel John McCrae, who had served with the Artillery in the Boar War,
wrote what is perhaps the best-known poem from WWI. He died in 1918, totally
warn out, having devoted himself to the care of the fighting men. He rests
in Wimereux Cemetery, north of Boulogne.
"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
Scare 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; by yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with those who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields."
The poem was
published in Punch on 8th December 1915. The poppy became the British Legion
symbol of respect for those who gave their lives in the Great War. Including
Henry James Bembridge.
On the left, is a photograph of the facsimile of the original
handwritten poem. It is displayed at the Essex Farm Cemetery in Belgium. The
photograph was taken by Henry Simmonds 1937, March 2012.
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