Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1918-07-06
FLANDERS FIELDS
MOST POPULAR
POEM OF WAR
Written BY Officer Of Canadian
Army Medical Corps While
In Dugout
THE ORIGINAL VERSION
AND AMERICA ANSWER
Author Died A Patient In Hos
pital Short Time After Writ
ing The Poem

"In Flanders Fields" is probably the
best war poem in the world today. 1t
has had a wider circulation throughout
all the allied coutries than any other
poem written since the war began 1t
has been printed in many languages
and has served to stimulate many pa
triotic causes. The poem was writ
ten by Lt-Col. John Macrea, of the
Canadian Army Medical Corps, while
he sat in his dug-out on the banks of
the User Canal during those awful
days in April. 1915. when the daunt-
less 1st Canadian Division, outnum-
bered almost ten to one, held the foe
in check at Langemarck, st. Julian
and Ypres and barred the way to
Calais It's inspiration is thus ex-
planned by an officer who has served
in the same unit Zone the Flanders
front in the early spring of 1915, two
of the most noticeable features of the
field were, first, the luxuriant growth
of red peoples appearing among the
graves of the fallen soldiers, and sec
ond, that only one species of bird re-
manned on the field during the fighting
the larks-who, as soon as the can
nonading ceased, would at once rise
in the air, singing"
Lt-Col. Macrea, the author was a
widely known Canadian surgeon, who
at the outbreak of the war was a mem
Der of the medical faculty of McGill
University He was training for the
profession of Medicine and Surgery at
the time the South African trouble be-
gan and he served through the Boer
war as a Subaltern in the Royal
Canadian Artillery. At the outbreak
of the present war he volunteered his
services and as a major he joined the
First Artillery Brigade c. F. A., in
August, 1914 With this unit he serv-
ed as Medical officer through all the
early engagements in which the 1st
Canadian Division took part. 1t is
point of interest to note that the Com
handing officer of this brigade was
Lt.-Col. E. W. B. Morrison, D. S. o.,
fellow subaltern in the same battery in
South Africa. The latter is now a
Major-General and in command of the
artillery of the Canadian Corps. After
the battle of Festubert, Major Macrea
was promoted to the rank of Lieuten-
ant-Colonel and was given charge of
the McGill University Base Hospital
Arduous work and continued exposure
brought him down with pneumonia
He died, patient in his own hospital
a short time afterwards. ''In Fland-
ers Fields" was first published in
Punch" the famous British Weekly.
The version as it appears below is the
original one.
I'm Flanders Field has evoked many
responses. The best is that written
by Senator H. B. Negley, of Indianapo-
lis, and by him presented to the Brit
ish and Canadian Recruiting Mission.
1t is reproduced hereunder also.
IN FLANDERS FIELDS.
BY Lt.-Col John Macrea.
In Flanders Field the peoples blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place, while 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 bear it high;
If We break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though peoples
grow
In Flanders fields