During the 1915 Second Battle of Ypres in Belgium, LTC John McCrae of the British Army both a soldier and a physician noted that while he was awake the gunfire never ceased even for a moment. As the son of a military leader he grew up believing that one should fight for their country when necessary. He was also a poet and when he was performing the burial service for a fallen friend he noticed that beautiful red poppies quickly grew around the graves of the fallen.

The next day he wrote the poem “ In Flanders Fields” while sitting in the back of an ambulance. It speaks in the voices of dead soldiers and the challenges for the living to go forward. 

“In Flanders Fields”  by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders Field, the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row

That marks 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

We 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

In 1918, an American professor, Moina Michael vowed to remember all soldiers who died for freedom by wearing  a single poppy . She also penned a response to McCrae’s poem.

“We shall Keep the Faith” by Moina Michael, November 1918

Oh! You who sleep in Flanders Fields

Sleep sweet? To rise anew!

We caught the torch you threw

And holding high, we keep the Faith

With All who died

We cherish, too, the Poppy red

It seems to signal to the skies

That blood of heroes never dies

But lends a luster to the red

Of flowers that bloom above the dead

In Flanders Fields

And now the Torch and Poppy Red

We wear them in honor of our dead

Fear not that ye have died for naught

We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought

In Flanders Fields

How does America as a nation keep the faith with those that have served and their fallen comrades? The holiday of Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, has expanded from its original purpose as many wars and conflicts that followed the American Civil War have added to the rolls of the fallen. It now honors all of the past dead and will honor all of the future casualties. There is a phrase, “ All gave some, some gave all.”  “All gave some” refers to those honored on Veterans Day; “Some gave all “ refers to those honored on Memorial Day and the ranks of each continue to grow.

Brother Jon Taylor, Patriotic Instructor.