Author: LeRae Umfleet
“In Flanders Fields” is one of the most popular and most quoted war poems associated with World War I. Lt. Col. John McCrae, a Canadian doctor, wrote it on May 3, 1915, after the death of friend and fellow soldier Alexis H
elmer in the Second Battle of Ypres. McCrae, dissatisfied with his work, threw it away, but his fellow soldiers, stirred by its sentiments, retrieved the poem and it was subsequently published in December 1915 to widespread acclaim. The poem’s mention of the red poppies growing over the graves of fallen soldiers resulted in the “remembrance poppy” becoming one of the most recognized symbols of World War I and soldiers who have died in conflict.
Civilians and veterans were moved by the poem in the United States, and, in 1920, the National American Legion adopted the flower as their official symbol of remembrance. The Veterans of Foreign Wars undertook a national distribution of remembrance poppies before Memorial Day in 1922.
As part of the World War I Centennial observances in North Carolina, the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and the Department of Transportation partnered to plant poppies along major interstate highways across the state. As you’re driving through North Carolina and see these plantings, please pause a moment and remember the soldiers who died in the service of our country.
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.
Watch a moving video of the reading of the poem.