In Flanders 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 Veterans Day (called Remembrance Day in England and Canada).

McCrae did not survive Wo…