Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae - World War I Memorial - Slocan City, BC Canada - Etched in Stone on Waymarking.com

Near the bottom of the memorial is inscribed the quotation:
"To you from falling hands we throw
the torch, be yours to hold it high."

This is a famous quote from the poem In Flanders Field, written on May 3, 1915 by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian physician, soldier, and poet. It was written immediately after he attended the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Alexis Helmer, who died on May 2 in the Second Battle of Ypres. Unhappy with his work, he apparently discarded it, only to be retrieved by his fellow soldiers. It was first published in the London-based magazine Punch on December 8, 1915.

John McCrae, himself, died of pneumonia on January 28, 1918 at Boulogne while commanding No. 3 Canadian General Hospital.

The Remembrance Poppy, one of the most recognized memorial symbols in the world for soldiers who were killed in military actions, was inspired by the poem's reference to the poppies which grow in Flanders Field, where the Ypres military cemetery was created during the war.

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.

--John McCrae

Address: Main Street at Delaney Avenue Slocan City, BC V0G-2C0 Website: [Web Link]

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