Today’s Greatitude

Alexis Helmer, a close friend of John McCrae’s, was killed during the second battle of Ypres on May 2, 1915. McCrae performed the burial service himself, where he noticed how poppies quickly grew around the graves of those who died in Flanders Fields. The next day, it is said that he composed the poem while sitting in the back of an ambulance.

Cyril Allinson was a sergeant major in McCrae’s unit. While delivering the brigade’s mail, he watched McCrae as he worked on the poem, noting that McCrae’s eyes periodically returned to Helmer’s grave as he wrote.

When handed the notepad, Allinson read the poem and was so moved he immediately committed it to memory. He described it as being “almost an exact description of the scene in front of us both”.

Lest we forget.