John_McCrae_Bonneau_In_Flanders_Fields

. In early May, 1915 one of Canada's most reknown poems was written by one of Canada's best known poets. In a story that has become legend, John McCrae wrote the first version of "In Flanders Fields" on 3 May 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier. The poem is one of the reasons the poppy has become an international symbol of remembrance, especially important in Canada, the USA, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia. . When The Great War began in 1914 he enlisted at once. In a letter to a friend he described his reason, "It is a terrible state of affairs, and I am going because I think every bachelor, especially if he has experience of war, ought to go. I am really rather afraid, but more afraid to stay at home with my conscience." John McCrae fell ill in late January of 1918, and died of pneumonia with "extensive pneumococcus meningitis" on 8 January 1918.