In Flanders Fields

“For seventeen days and seventeen nights none of us have had our clothes off, nor our boots even, except occasionally. In all that time while I was awake, gunfire and rifle fire never ceased for sixty seconds ... And behind it all was the constant background of the sights of the dead, the wounded, the maimed, and a terrible anxiety lest the line should give way.”

When you think of World War remembrance and what’s the first image that comes to mind? Chances are it’s a single blood-red poppy.

The little flowers, which bloom over the former battlefields of Belgium, are one of the defining symbols of commemoration and remembrance in the UK. But where did it come from? The answer lies In Flanders Fields.

The poem is evocative of the sights Lt. Colonel John McCrae saw while serving on the Western Front: Written: May 3, 1915 In Flanders Fields the poppies grow 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 live, 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

Robert “Chappy’ Poynter, Mayor, City of Chester