jsq@quarterman.com writes:
> 2 May 1915: Lt. Helmer k. at Ypres, [4]John McCrae remembers him in the poem
> ``In Flanders Fields.''
>
MAJ McCrae, Canadian Army, was a surgeon who'd also served in South Africa.
He'd then been on the faculty of McGill University. We're told that one of
his students was Lt. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, who'd been wounded in the field
that day, later dying in the Major's dressing station. It was Maj. McCrae
who performed the young man's funeral. Maj. McCrae is reported the next day
to have viewed the field where the red poppies grew, his gaze returning to
the grave of his former student.
The U.S. cemetery there carries the title of the poem as its name.
May G-d bless those who continue to serve on today's Flanders fields.
CAPT G.A. Cook of Kingerly
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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.