Outside Looking In

Flanders Field
I was asked by several people to print "In Flanders Fields" in the Mascot because it popularized the red poppy as a symbol of remembrance and is customarily brought up during Memorial Day events, including the one in Minneota.
"In Flanders Fields" was written by a Canadian officer and surgeon named John McCrae in 1915 and is arguably one of the most famous wartime poems ever written.
The story of how McCrae's poem came to fruition is compelling, sad and inspiring.
McCrae, who was a Montreal physician, volunteered for military duty in World War I when he was 41 years old. In April of 1915, McCrae and a younger friend, Alexis Helmer, were among 18,000 soldiers assigned to the First Canadian Division that were stationed in Ypres, Belgium on April 15. A week later, during the six-week-long Second Battle of Ypres, the Germans launched the first large-scale poison gas attacks of World War I.
In a letter to his mother, McCrae wrote: "The general impression in my mind is of a nightmare. And behind it all was the constant background of the sights of the dead, the wounded, the maimed, and a terrible anxiety lest the line should give way."
Helmer, McCrae's friend, was killed in action on May 2, 1915. With the brigade chaplain absent, McCrae conducted the funeral services. When McCrae, who had some of his poetry work published while living in Canada, visited Helmer's grave later, he wrote the beginning of the poem "In Flanders Fields."
Upon completion of the poem, McCrae sent a copy of "In Flanders Fields" to The Spectator magazine in London. The magazine rejected his work. Fortunately, a young journalist visiting the military hospital was told about the poem and took a copy of it back to another magazine, "Punch", and it was printed anonymously on Dec. 8, 1915.
Almost immediately, the poem's popularity soared and McCrae's name was attached to it.
Two years after its publication in 1917, "In Flanders Fields" gained popularity in the United States. The use of the symbol of the poppies blooming eventually led to the tradition of poppy sales to raise money for the troops, and to help recruit American Soldiers as the United States mobilized to enter the war.
Today, the poem is read by millions around the world on Memorial Day. A history museum in Ypres is named after the poem. A special gallery in the Canadian War Museum is named for John McCrae.
In 2015, a statue of McCrae was erected in Ottawa. McCrae is dressed as an artillery officer in the statue with his medical bag sitting nearby. He is seated among the destruction of a battlefield while he writes. At his feet are several poppies.
McCrae died of pneumonia near the end of the war in 1918.
The street next to the cemetery where he is buried is named in his honor. Mount McCrae in British Columbia is also named for him.
The Minneota Legion Auxiliary selects someone to read the poem during the Memorial Day service each year. Jaelin Anderson, who was invited by the Auxiliary to attend Girls State this year, will be reading "In Flanders Field" at the local Memorial Day program that begins at 10 a.m. in the Legion Hall.

"In Flanders Field"
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.

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Minneota, MN 56264

Phone:(507) 872-6492