To Keep the Faith’ John Mccrae, Moina Michael and the Flanders Poppy by Diana Beaupré and Adrian Watkinson

The Western Front Association Stand To! No. 113 ‘To Keep the Faith’ John McCrae, Moina Michael and the Flanders Poppy by Diana Beaupré and Adrian Watkinson The Second Battle of Ypres fought from 22 April to 25 May 1915 became the catalyst for a most extraordinary series of connected events during The First World War and beyond. On the morning of Sunday 2 May 1915, a 22–year–old officer, Lieutenant Alexis Hannum Helmer was serving with 1 Canadian Artillery Brigade near Bridge No. 4 – the Brielen Bridge – on the west bank of the Yser Canal, some 2 miles north of Ypres . Emerging from his dugout he was killed instantly by a direct hit from a German shell. The parts of his body which could be recovered were gathered into sandbags and wrapped in an army blanket secured with safety pins to resemble a human shape. Alexis Helmer was buried after dark later that day. The interment of this young officer was the inspiration behind what is perhaps the best known and oft recited poem of the Great War. It is a poem which, in turn, inspired a legacy and which, argue Diana Beaupré and Adrian Watkinson, endures to this day. The scene from the Canadian 1 Artillery Brigade HQ dug out at Essex Farm – showing the small, but expanding cemetery – as sketched by Major General Sir Edward Morrison in May 1915.The line ‘Between the crosses, row on row’ was written by John McCrae (3) 1912, Alexis graduated after three years at the dying men as the conflict raged around them. Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario. Second–in–command of the unit was Major He then took a two year course in Applied John McCrae who had forged a strong and Science at McGill University in Montreal and close friendship with Alexis Helmer at McGill completed his Railway Engineering degree. University. When the shelling paused for a At the outbreak of war, Alexis was already an time, gunners dug a grave for their young officer in the Canadian Artillery. officer in ground nearby that had become a The war diary entry of 1 Canadian Artillery makeshift cemetery for many of the soldiers Brigade for 2 May 1915 described: ‘Intense who had died. Being told of the brutal death of heavy shelling by enemy all night which his friend, John McCrae recorded in his journal increased toward morning. Lt Helmer killed & that ‘Lieut Helmer was killed, His diary’s last Lt Hague severely wounded whilst observing.’ words were “It has quieted a little and I shall No–one who was present could ever imagine try to get a good sleep.” His girl’s picture had a how the death of the young officer would hole right through it and we buried it with him. lead to the composition of a war poem which I said the committal service over him as well as has resonated around the world for over one I could through memory. A soldier’s death!’ As Lieutenant Alexis Helmer in uniform (1) hundred years. the chaplains were needed elsewhere, McCrae The dugout housing 1 Canadian Artillery performed the short service for the former ‘A soldier’s death’ Dressing Station was very close, also on the McGill student. Essex Farm Cemetery near the Alexis Helmer was the only son of Colonel, banks of the Yser Canal. This crude ‘hole in the village of Boezinge in Belgium and the site of later Brigadier General, Richard Alexis Helmer rear side of the twenty–foot high canal bank’ the dugout alongside it – the present concrete of the Department of Militia and Defence, was where doctors and orderlies sheltered structure is post–April 1915 – are visited each Instructor of Musketry at Ottawa, Canada. In whilst trying to treat hundreds of wounded and year by thousands of people. 1/Canadian Artillery war diary entry – 2 May 1915 (2) 1 The Western Front Association Stand To! No. 113 Alexis Helmer’s grave was visible from the bunker where John McCrae sat looking out over the rows of crude wooden crosses. Vivid scarlet poppies had already sprung up amongst them. During that night, this sight and a deep sadness inspired an exhausted McCrae to write the first draft of his poem‘ 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 (4) In Flanders fields. Major John McCrae and his horse Bonfire Of all the words ever written during a war, it was to become the most quoted, endlessly War! was carried on a north easterly breeze towards copied, singularly moving and best remembered When war was declared in 1914, John McCrae French and Canadian troops. Fortunately, work of literature. Discussed in the trenches of – at the age of 42 – volunteered and became one the Canadians had some expertise and had Flanders and all along the Western Front, the of over half a million members of the Canadian already formed a small unit for chemical poem was destined to be memorised and widely Expeditionary Force. He wrote to his mother analysis to protect the water supply. One recited by thousands of soldiers within weeks. ‘It is a terrible state of affairs and I am going chemist involved was a University of Toronto History has handed it down to us as part of our because I think every bachelor, especially if he professor, Lieutenant Colonel George Nasmith remembrance over 100 years later. has experience of war, ought to go. I am really who identified the substance in the gas to be rather afraid, but more afraid to stay at home chlorine. This was confirmed by his friend in Soldier, artist, doctor, poet with my conscience.’ (6) the 14/Montreal Battalion, Captain Francis So, who was John McCrae? Born in Guelph, Assigned the rank of major, he was given the Scrimger –who gave crude but immediate help Ontario in 1872, he was the second son in a role of senior medical officer and travelled to to the soldiers. He instructed them to urinate family of three children. His mill owner father Europe with his horse ‘Bonfire’, gifted to him onto a handkerchief or piece of bandage and founded the local militia unit. Although he and by his friend John Todd. hold it over their nose and mouth which would his brother Tom trained as doctors, John was In addition, he was also second–in–command afford some protection against the chlorine. also raised as a soldier. The McCrae family of 1 Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery. By His advice saved numerous men from death were staunch Presbyterians and attended church March 1915, they were moved out to Belgium and horrendous injury. Scrimger’s actions on at least once every Sunday. where heavy casualties had already been 25 April 1915 earned him the VC. Meanwhile, Whilst attending Toronto University, John incurred by British troops during the First Nasmith had put his skills as a chemist to fell in love with Alice McCrae (no relation). Battle of Ypres in October and November 1914. work and, within a few days, had developed When she died of typhoid, John was so The Ypres Salient was one of the most a hyposulphite soda–soaked pad, which was devastated by his loss that he never married. dangerous of locations at that time. The designed to react with the gas to form sodium Graduating with a medical degree in 1898, development of poison gas as an offensive chloride and vastly reduce its effects. These McCrae went to work at McGill University weapon of war by the Germans culminated in pads were issued to all front line units and Pathology department. Within a year, he was its use was brought into use for the first time in helped save the lives of thousands of soldiers packing to leave as war had broken out in South the history of warfare on 22 April 1915. The gas facing this new and terrifying weapon.(7) Africa. He went not as a doctor, but as a soldier in the Canadian Artillery. McCrae was already accepted in the literary field as a poet of some promise with over 25 published poems. As the Boer War gripped world attention, he wrote ‘Disarmament’, which was published in the Toronto Globe: One spake amid the nations, “Let us cease From darkening with strife the fair World’s light, We who are great in war be great in peace. No longer let us plead the cause by might.” But from a million British graves took birth A silent voice – the million spake as one – “If ye have righted all the wrongs of earth Lay by the sword! Its work and ours is done.” (5) On his return to Canada, he again studied at McGill and contributed to the golden age of medicine. Teaching pathology at McGill’s University Hospital, McCrae contributed to the ten volume Oslers Modern Medicine textbook. A group of officers of 1/5 York and Lancaster Regiment try out the first gas ‘masks’ – April 1915 (8) 2 The Western Front Association Stand To! No. 113 Under constant heavy fire, McCrae laboured in his bunker to treat the seemingly endless numbers of wounded, the condition of many being frequently compromised with infections having been contracted after laying for hours on what had been heavily manured farmland.

Load more