![[UNVERIFIED CONTENT] The red poppy is a symbol of remembrance for all the men and women who fought in war. This design is Canadian. A hand is selecting a pin from many.](https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5cd5d6f52100005900c2dce4.jpeg?ops=scalefit_970_noupscale&format=webp)
John McCrae's World War One poem "In Flanders Fields" is arguably the most iconic piece of writing from that conflict.
The poem, first published in 1915 in British magazine Punch, quickly became iconic and inspired the annual tradition of wearing poppies to commemorate veterans on Remembrance Day.
In the days before writing the poem, McCrae, a Canadian army doctor, had lost a close friend and noticed the small red flowers growing in the graves around fallen soldiers. McCrae himself would not survive the war, dying of illness in January, 1918.
In the following decades the poem has been recited countless times at memorials and school assemblies. We've included the words below:
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.