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.
~Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae
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.
~Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae
Canadian soldier, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, wrote the war memorial poem, In Flanders Fields, during the second battle of Ypres, in Belgium on May 3, 1915. It is about his fallen comrades who were buried in Flanders.
This poem, and the poppy, have become a symbol of our veterans from the First and Second World War, and the Korean War. Every year, in November, the Royal Canadian Legion distributes poppies and Canadians wear them to honour our soldiers, who fought for our freedom. Poppies are worn in Britain as well, where Remembrance Day is also known as Poppy Day.
I was recently in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. I visited the Canadian National War Memorial there. The war monument depicts soldiers on the battlefront, with a cannon behind them. As you walk around the memorial, the years of the three wars are etched into the monument. In front of the War Memorial, the tomb of the Unknown Soldier is prominently displayed.
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| World War I, the War Memorial, Ottawa |
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| World War II, the War Memorial, Ottawa |
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| The Korean War, the War Memorial, Ottawa |
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| The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the War Memorial, Ottawa |
~Angie
