Articles
Canadian Heritage Adventures, Volume 1
Edited by Robert Bergen (O’Brien Publishing, Ottawa ON, 2003)
Title: “A Canadian Doctor, A War and a Poem” (excerpt)
John McCrae had never seen anything like it. From 1914 to 1916, as the attending physician to Allied soldiers fighting in the hell of the Belgian countryside, the Canadian doctor faced a daily procession of diseased, maimed and dying men…
During a second battle near Ypres in the spring of 1915, the Germans used chlorine gas for the first time. On the morning of April 22, Allied soldiers watched in fascination as the olive green cloud floated over the battle grounds, clinging low to the ground. The poisonous gas not only blinds its victims, it also burns the lungs. Coughing and dying, the Algerian and French troops panicked and fled, opening a 6-kilometer gap in the trench system. For seventeen days, the Canadian troops poured into the gap, defending and ultimately securing the area. Over 10,000 Allied soldiers were killed during the two months. Later, McCrae was to write: “It was hell all the time. We really expected to die in our tracks. We never had our boots off, much less our clothes.”
As always, the dead were buried in makeshift graves in the countryside. As before, the hardy poppy flower quickly established itself between the gravesites. One of the graves contained the unrecognizable remains of McCrae’s friend, Alexis Helmer, age 25. McCrae himself had conducted the service as no chaplain was available. Sitting on the back of the ambulance, thinking of his friend, McCrae wrote a poem. The 15 lines, written in 23 minutes, have become one of the best-known war poems.
This was not the Doctor’s first attempt at writing. Born in Guelph on Nov. 30, 1872, McCrae had written poetry during his years at the University of Toronto and his internship at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Although he was never prolific, a number of his poems had previously been published.
In Flanders Fields, published in the British magazine Punch on Dec 8, 1915, became an instant success. Soldiers saw it as an anthem of encouragement, while loved ones at home viewed it as an affirmation for the war. It was especially well received in the United States, a country that had not yet entered the war. The poem took on a life of its own, inspiring young men to join up and even becoming part of an advertisement for the first Victory Loan Bonds in 1917. Poppies gathered in Flanders were sold in Britain to support the war effort. In fact, the poppy became a symbol of the Allied war effort.
Some see the poem as a call to battle and are put off by its blatant patriotism. However, it must be read and understood in the context of McCrae’s personal beliefs: a strong sense of duty to one’s country, a love of the Commonwealth, a pride in the importance of British imperialism.
Often recited during Remembrance Day memorials, In Flanders Fields gives all of us a chance to honour those who sacrificed themselves for a cause they believed to be just…
