When Canada entered the Great War in 1914, doctor and professor of medicine John McCrae enlisted in the Army. He was sent to the Western Front as a brigade surgeon, and when a friend was wounded during the 1915 Battle of Ypres, McCrae wrote for him a poem, "In Flanders Fields."

It quickly became the most famous poem of the war, and one of the most beloved poems of all time. McCrae contracted pneumonia while working at a hospital in France in 1918. He died five days later. We reprint this poem in memory of all who have died in defense of liberty.

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.