HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2016-09-21, Page 1010 News Record • Wednesday, September 21, 2016
In Flanders Fields
This piece has been written in light of the upcoming poppy installation service at the
courthouse in Goderich. A group of community members will be placing 551 ceramic
poppies at the Goderich cenotaph with each poppy representing a life lost in the Great
War. The service begins at 4:00 p.m. on September 22 at the Courthouse Square.
t is strange in a country
of peacekeepers that
its greatest single contribu-
tion to world literature is a
war poem urging the living
to carry on the fight.
Over 100 years after it was
written, the imagery of John
McCrae's 'In Flanders
Fields' remains clear, pure,
unsullied, beautiful and
boldly patriotic. It is a
national treasure, a part of
our heritage and the foun-
dation of our all too sparse
civil religion.
Tucked away on page 468
in a bottom corner of the
December 8, 1915 issue of
'Punch; or the 'London
Charivari' magazine, 'In
Flanders Fields' made its
first appearance in print.
A satirical journal geared
for the sophisticated English
middle class, `Punch' was an
odd place for the most reso-
nant of all war poems to
debut. Yet, within days, the
magazine was swamped
with thousands of requests
for copies and reprints.
The sixteen line poem
immediately struck a pro-
found emotional chord with
an anxious war worried
audience. It was not until
Huron History
Dave Yates
the December 29, 1915 issue
that the author was incor-
rectly identified as Lieuten-
ant-Colonel John `McCree.
By war's end, it was easily
the most recognized literary
monument of the Great War.
It was all the more incredi-
ble because it was almost
not published at all.
In May 1915, 42 year old
Major John McCrae of
Guelph was a surgeon with
the Royal Canadian Field
Artillery. He operated under
shellfire at Essex Farm Bun-
ker, an aid station which
military historian, Tim
Cook, in 'In Flanders Fields:
100 Years' described as
nothing more than a 'muddy
cave reinforced with wood
and buttressed by a small
sand bag wall.'
His operating room con-
sisted of a crude wooden
table with straw placed on
the floor to soak up the
blood and gore.
1 'C 1"' 1,. N L ERS FIE14T.
l N 1, lnnrEers fields tide pnppies bio v
eLwei n fibs t'E'Ib,4,kes, row mit tow,
That t hili -1,' 111.11' phLc ' and
lio larks, still bravely
• ill�tirh��
r} �I
Se aLce be.w1,r{l i1J lid Lite ;7<uli3 l].:l nv.
We :ale the Dead. - I i co days ago
We riived, felt rIas ,,, 1 , 41I Sk• blinsrlow,
LL v'c1l and 3 e:'(I hived, and pow WC li
r 1'rI 'Fl:LIIi::ILl.'. fi 1d .
Take up our gll`irrcl \ it p the foe'
To you from 1;6ii11g lands we throw
Tho torch ; be yours tn hold it. b gl
If o break faith w, itl-L uB. W[I0 dig D+I
' e SI'tr01 not '1eep,1,1 i; iLLLgEL poppies
In Illa.ttlIi: r fell ,
In Flanders Fields' written by John McCrae in 'Punch' magazine
on December 8, 1915.
On the morning of May 2,
McCrae learned that a
young friend, Lieutenant
Alexis Helmer, age 22, whom
he had known in the
pre-war militia, had been
killed by a high explosive
shell which 'dismembered'
his body.
Already physically and
nwmo
NUCLEAR WASTE
MANAGEMENT
ORGANIZATION
SOCIETE DE GESTION
DES DECHETS
NUCLEAIRES
NWMO Learn More Centre
The Municipality of Central Huron is one of nine communities
involved in a process of learning about Adaptive Phased
Management (APM), Canada's plan for the safe, long-term
management of used nuclear fuel. The Nuclear Waste
Management Organization is working collaboratively with the
community to advance preliminary assessment studies.
Learn about APM, meet NWMO staff, ask questions and
offer your thoughts. Drop in to the NWMO community office
and Learn More Centre in Clinton.
Everyone is welcome.
NWMO Learn More Centre
(Central Huron)
38 Albert Street, Clinton ON
519.386.6711
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Contributed photos
A ceramic poppy in front of the courthouse in Goderich.
emotionally exhausted after
10 days of surgery under
gruelling conditions,
McCrae personally con-
ducted Helmer's funeral ser-
vice over his young friend.
Although a devout Presbyte-
rian, McCrae recited from
memory the Anglican 'Bur-
ial for the Dead' and was
deeply moved when a pic-
ture of Helmer's fiance was
placed on top of his bagged
and bloody remains.
It seems McCrae wrote 'In
Flanders Fields' sometime
on May 2-3, 1915.
One version of the poem's
origin is that McCrae wrote
it in 20 minutes immediately
after Helmer's funeral.
The most widely known
version of the origins of 'In
Flanders Fields' comes from
22 year old Sergeant Major
Cyril Allinson who claimed
to have seen McCrae sitting
in the back of an ambulance
on May 3 scribbling in a
notepad. Allinson said he
watched McCrae's eyes
moving between his note-
pad and the rows of crosses
in the cemetery where
Helmer was buried. McCrae
then crumpled up the paper
and threw it on the ground
where Allinson picked it up
and read it. Allinson report-
edly said that it was 'almost
an exact description of the
scene in front of us both.'
He returned it McCrae
and advised him to publish
it. If true, Sgt. Maj. Allinson
was the first to read it and
understand its significance.
Whatever the case,
McCrae submitted it to at
least one other English jour-
nal which rejected it before
'Punch' finally published it.
When the author's identity
became known, McCrae
received letters of gratitude
from the friends and rela-
tives of those who lay in
Flanders Fields.
Reprinted and published in
several languages, the poem
became the anthem of
remembrance for the next
century.
Much of the poem's power
is lies in its imagery. Blood
red poppies blowing between
rows of white crosses evoked
the higher Christian ideals of
sacrifice and suffering. The
poppy's narcotic qualities
made it a traditional symbol
of deep painless sleep. The
pastoral image of larks
'bravely singing' lift the
mind's eye upward before the
firing of 'the guns below'
remind us that the battle
rages on.
Written from the perspec-
tive of the freshly dead who
can do no more, McCrae's 'In
Flanders Fields' is a call from
beyond the grave. To 'break
faith' with the dead would be
to betray their sacrifice.
'To forget was to drop the
torch and to fail the men and
women who had given their
lives' according to Jonathan
Vance in 'Death So Noble:
They will not rest 'though
poppies grow in Flanders
Fields.' For the bereaved,
abandoning the memory of
their dead and their cause
was a worse sin than the war
itself.
CONTINUED > PAGE 11