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Here is the famous poem "In Flanders Fields" written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) of the Canadian Army, to mark the end of Remembrance Day 2006 and to especially remember the Canadians soldiers who died in Hong Kong during World War II:
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 falling 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.
References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Flanders_Fields
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UPDATED 20131028
According to Wikipedia:
在法蘭德斯戰場（英文：In Flanders Fields）是在第一次世界大戰其間的最重要的詩作之一，也被認為是那個時期最流行的詩。這首法文迴旋詩體的英文詩是加拿大的軍醫約翰•麥克雷中校(英文： John McCrae )在目睹了他的年僅22歲的戰友 Alexis Helmer 中尉的死，於第二天1915年5月3日所作，同年12月，發表在英國倫敦的雙周刊 Punch 上。法蘭德斯是第一次世界大戰最慘烈的戰場，盛開着虞美人花。因為這首詩，虞美人花成為全球國殤紀念日佩花。
Translation into Chinese by Wikipedia:
在法蘭德斯戰場虞美人迎風開放
開放在十字架之間，一排排一行行
標示我們斷魂的地方
雲雀依舊高歌，展翅在藍藍的天上
可你卻難以聽見，因為戰場上槍炮正響
我們死去了，就在幾天前
我們曾經擁有生命，沐浴曙光又見璀璨夕陽
我們愛人也為人所愛，可現在卻安息在
法蘭德斯戰場
繼續和敵人戰鬥吧
顫抖的雙手拋給你們
那熊熊的火炬，讓你們將它高舉
你們若辜負死去的我們
我們將不會安息，儘管虞美人
染紅法蘭德斯戰場
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UPDATED 20131108:
Photo credit: Facebook user "Canada Remembers"
Related info below: http://www.canadiangreatwarproject.com/searches/soldierDetail.asp?ID=6009
Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae 
Died: January 28, 1918
Regimental Number:
| NA |
Survived War:
| No |
Force:
| Army |
Regiment:
| Canadian Army Medical Corps |
Battalion:
| No. 3 General Hospital |
Company:
| |
Place of Birth:
| Guelph, Ontario |
Country:
| Canada |
Next of Kin:
| Janet Eckford McCrea, mother, 211 Paisley Street, Guelph, Ontario |
Address at Enlistment:
| At sea, between Canada and England. Wired his desire to enlist from the ship. |
Date of Birth:
| November 30, 1872 |
Trade or Calling:
| Physician |
Marital Status:
| Single |
Prior Military Experience:
| Yes |
Place of Enlistment:
| Valcartier, Quebec |
Date of Enlistment:
| September 22, 1914 |
Age at enlistment:
| 41 |
Height:
| 6 Feet Inches |
Chest:
| 40 Inches |
Expansion:
| 4 Inches |
Religion:
| Presbyterian |
Enlisted or Conscripted:
| Enlisted |
Saw service in:
| Europe | ||
Cause of Death:
| Died of Illness |
Battle Died/Wounded:
| |
Date of Death:
| January 28, 1918 |
Age at Death:
| 45 |
Buried at:
| Wimereux Communal Cemetery, France |
Plot:
| IV. H. 3. |
Commemorated:
| Various | ||
Prisoner of war:
| No |
Interned:
| |
Gender:
| Male |
Ethnic Origin:
| Caucasian |
| LAC Reference: RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 7202-2 |
| Canadian Virtual War Memorial Commonwealth War Graves Commission |
| Research Notes |
| Link to Toronto Star article - Guelph house commemorates Flanders' poet McCrae (November 10, 2009) Named on Nominal Roll for No. 3 General Hospital (McGill), embarkation Port - Montreal, Ship - S.S. Metagama, and dated 06 May 1915. |
| Rank | Regiment | Unit | Company |
| Lieutenant Colonel | Canadian Army Medical Corps | No. 3 General Hospital | |
| Major | Canadian Artillery | 1st Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery | |
| Lance Corporal | Canadian Infantry | 85th Battalion |
| Images |
| Memorial to John McCrae at Essex Farm Cemetery, Ypres |
| Hand written "In Flanders Fields" dated Dec. 8 1915 |
| Soldier, explorer, physician, educator and poet. Author of "In Flanders Fields", possibly the best known poem in the world. Colonel John McCrae (1872-1918) was born in Guelph, Ontario, studied medicine at the University of Toronto where he graduated at the top of his class. He enlisted and fought in the Boer War in South Africa. On his return he took a fellowship at McGill University in Montreal. McCrae served as a special professor in pathology at the University of Vermont, an associate of medicine at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal and a lecturer in pathology and medicine at McGill University. He was also employed as a pathologist at Montreal General Hospital and as a physician at the Royal Alexandra Hospital ( Montreal) for Infectious Diseases. When the First World War began in 1914, McCrae enlisted as the Brigade Surgeon in the First Brigade of Canadian Field Artillery. He was responsible for a field dressing station at the front and treated those wounded during the Second Battle of Ypres in the spring of 1915. As well as performing his duties as surgeon, he also served in the Artillery, when needed. In the summer of 1915, McCrae was transferred from the artillery Brigade to the Number 3 Canadian General Hospital in Wimereaux, France, where he was second in command of medical services. On January 24, 1918 he was appointed as consulting physician to the First British Army, the first Canadian so honoured. 4 days later, on January 28th, McCrae died from pneumonia, complicated by meningitis. He is buried at Wimereaux Cemetery in France. At McCrae's funeral procession, Generals and nursing sisters stood side-by-side, silently watching the cortege pass. While an extraordinary soldier and physician, Colonel McCrae is best known for his poem “In Flanders Fields”. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible battle in the Ypres salient in the spring of 1915 and to the war in general. McCrae had spent seventeen days treating injured men -- Canadians, British, French, and Germans in the Ypres salient. McCrae later wrote: "I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of that seventeen days... Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have folded our hands and said it could not have been done." The next day McCrae witnessed the burial of a good friend, Lieut. Alexis Helmer. Later that day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the field dressing station, McCrae composed the poem. A young NCO, delivering mail, watched him write it. When McCrae finished writing, he took his mail from the soldier and, without saying a word, handed his pad to the Sergeant-major. Cyril Allinson was moved by what he read: "The poem was exactly an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene." Colonel McCrae was dissatisfied with the poem, and tossed it away. A fellow officer retrieved it and sent it to newspapers in England. The Spectator, in London, rejected it, but Punch published it on 8 December 1915. For his contributions as a surgeon, the main street in Wimereaux is named “Rue McCrae”. His famous poem has become the lasting memorial to the war. |
| Type | Date | Description |
| Newspaper Extract | 8/21/1918 | The Battle of Amiens - Account by Captain R. J. Renison C.C. |
| Newspaper Extract | 11/11/1921 | In Flanders Fields - Stephen Leacock on John McCrae |
| War Diary Entry | 6/1/1915 | 1st. Canadian Field Artillery Brigade |
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