Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/18pdf/17-1717_4f14.pdf
Page Number: 12.0

Cite as:  588 U. S. ____ (2019) 

5 

Opinion of the Court 

“In Flanders fields the poppies blow 
Between the crosses, row on row.” 

In  Flanders  Fields  and  Other  Poems  3  (G.  P.  Putnam’s 
Sons  ed.  1919).    The  poem  was  enormously  popular.    See 
P.  Fussell,  The  Great  War  and  Modern  Memory  248–249 
(1975).  A 1921 New York Times article quoted a descrip-
tion  of  McCrae’s  composition  as  “ ‘the  poem  of  the  army’ ” 
and “ ‘of all those who understand the meaning of the great 
conflict.’ ”8    The  image  of  “the  crosses,  row  on  row,”  stuck 
in  people’s  minds,  and  even  today  for  those  who  view 
World War I cemeteries in Europe, the image is arresting.9 
  After  the  1918  armistice,  the  War  Department  an-
nounced plans to replace the wooden crosses and Stars of 
David  with  uniform  marble  slabs  like  those  previously 
used in American military cemeteries.  App. 1146.  But the 
public  outcry  against  that  proposal  was  swift  and  fierce.  
Many  organizations,  including  the  American  War  Moth-
ers,  a  nonsectarian  group  founded  in  1917,  urged  the 
Department  to  retain  the  design  of  the  temporary  mark-
ers.    Id.,  at  1146–1147.    When  the  American Battle  Mon-
uments Commission took over the project of designing the 
headstones,  it  responded  to  this  public  sentiment  by  opt-
ing to replace the wooden crosses and Stars of David with 
marble versions of those symbols.  Id., at 1144.  A Member 
of  Congress  likewise  introduced  a  resolution  noting  that 
“these  wooden  symbols  have,  during  and  since  the  World 
War,  been  regarded  as  emblematic  of  the  great  sacrifices 
which  that  war  entailed,  have  been  so  treated  by  poets 
and  artists  and  have  become  peculiarly  and  inseparably 
associated  in  the  thought  of  surviving  relatives  and  com-
rades and of the Nation with these World War graves.”  H. 
Res.  15,  68th  Cong.,  1  (1924),  App.  1163–1164.    This  na-

—————— 

8  “In Flanders Fields,” N. Y. Times, Dec. 18, 1921, p. 96. 
9 See ABMC, Cemeteries and Memorials, https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-

memorials.