Remembrance

The second battle of Ypres came to a bloody end on May 25th 1915. The Germans had suffered 35,000 casualties, the British 60,000, the French 25,000 and the Canadians 6,000.

The poem IN FLANDERS FIELDS was composed on the battle front  on May 3 by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a doctor serving with  the Canadian Medical Corps.

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