Remembering Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD

by Dr. Eugene Fisher

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD, was a Canadian poet, physician, author, artist, and soldier during World War I. He wrote the famous war memorial poem "In Flanders Fields." McCrae died of pneumonia in January 1918.
 
  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.