05/18/2026
Every Monday, we highlight a motivational story of someone who has served our country. Today, we are honoring Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae.
MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY
While in the Second Battle of Ypres in Belgium, Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian medical doctor, witnessed his close friend Alexis Helmer die.
He saw, against the backdrop of war, red poppies sprouting and was inspired to write the famous poem, "In Flanders Fields". The blood and the bones of the millions of men who died richly fertilized the soil. The longer the war continued, the more men and animals died. The more men and animals that died, the more the poppies thrived.
Now the tradition of wearing a red poppy or offering it as a tribute symbolizes the remembrance for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
IN FLANDERS FIELDS
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.
