The heavy, baritone voice broke through the crisp night air. It was a direct order.
Two men climbed out of the trench and carefully moved toward the ninety pound cylinders stacked horizontally thirty-five yards to the right of their unit. The winds had shifted and blew directly toward the enemy. Fellow soldiers, embedded in the trenches, kept their eyes glued on both men as they crawled toward the dark gray containers of death, avoiding stray gunfire that periodically sprayed about them.
Covered in an army green, oil based tarp, one soldier began to untie the ropes at the base of the three high stacked cylinders. His comrade quickly followed suit. Their hands shook...Were they cold? It was mid-May and the day had been extremely warm.
Before the troops arrival, the village had been picturesque. It was named Ypres, a Flemish community adored by the locals. Recognized centuries for its linen trade with England, Ypres dated back to the Middle Ages, being mentioned in The Canterbury Tales, first published in 1478.
As the men finished standing up one cylinder now positioned near the front line, a mystical silence gripped the air.
Another soldier, his right hand clenched to a valve handle located at the top of the cylinder, focused his eyes on the superior officer. He did not flinch a muscle.
The heavy, baritone voice once again broke through the silence of the night.
"Open the valve now Private. Now!"
The soldier, his right hand still gripped tightly to the valve, began slowly rotating it to the left. As the fumes began to fill the air, the young Private grasped his throat violently. About a dozen soldiers around him collapsed. The opened valve continued to release chlorine gas.
The horrors of chemical warfare had begun...
Lance Sergeant Elmer Cotton of the Canadian Full Artillery wrote in his journal the effects of chlorine gas on his fellow soldiers in the fall of 1915. He had been engaged in a series of battles against the Germans in Belgium throughout the year.
"It produces a flooding of the lungs. It is an equivalent death to drowning, only on dry land. The effects are these; a splitting headache and terrific thirst (to drink water is instant death,) a knife edged pain in the upper chest, followed by coughing up of a green froth off the stomach and lungs, ending finally in insensibility and death. The colour of the skin from white, turns to greenish, black, and yellow, the colour protrudes and the eyes assume a glossy stare. It is a fiendish death to die."
For many soldiers, within ten minutes after exposure, death occurred. Gas masks were not available in the early part of the war. Soldiers were given instructions to urinate on a cloth or handkerchief and use it to cover the mouth and nose. The ammonia in urine would neutralize the chlorine poisoning.
In 1918, the United States exercised the use of chemicals in warfare. A U.S. artillery unit fired poisonous gas against a large German unit. The American unit was led by Captain Harry S. Truman. (2)
By the end of WWI, one hundred thousand tons of chemical weapons had been used. An estimated 30,000 soldiers died from exposure. It is furthermore thought 500,000 suffered various repercussions throughout their lives from chemical effects.
In 1925 at the Geneva Protocol, chemical warfare was officially banned from use. However, the universal agreement did not outlaw the development of chemical use in warfare or the continued stockpiling of such weaponry.
Sadly, we still see its use in various regions of the world today.
----------------------------------------------------------
John McCrae was said to be a kind man. He was born in Guelph, Ontario and became a physician in the Canadian Mounted Forces Artillery. His friends and colleagues described him as warm and compassionate, a man of great empathy and deep conviction.
John's professional career included teaching, an author, a poet, and a faithful soldier. He wrote numerous medical articles while teaching as an associate of medicine at the Royal Victoria Hospital (1904) and later a professor of pathology at the University of Vermont (1911.) He co-authored a book titled A Textbook of Pathology for Students of Medicine."
At the beginning of WWI, "John followed a sense of duty to God, his country, and fellow man. He enlisted in the Canadian Forces Artillery and by 1915 had earned the rank of major. He was appointed brigade-surgeon and was stationed at Ypres, Belgium. Upon enlistment at 42 years of age, John was older than most WWI volunteers. In a letter to his mother he wrote, 'I am really afraid, but more afraid to stay at home with my conscience."
Being extremely fond of animals, John brought his beloved horse "Bonfire" to Europe. It is recorded he wrote numerous letters to a niece and nephew, addressing the letters as if they were from Bonfire. The signature was the hoof print of Bonfire.
While in service during the war, John befriended a dog named "Bonneau." His canine buddy would accompany John while making his rounds caring for wounded soldiers in various medical wards.
It was during a second series of battles at Ypres (1915) that John was deeply affected by the pain of war.
The German army had once again made use of chemical weapons in their attacks against the Canadian Artillery, specifically chlorine gas. McCrae wrote of his experience as "17 days of Hades." During this time John and the medical staff attended to nearly 4600 wounded. He went on and wrote "...endless days of being awake, sights of the dead, the maimed, the wounded, and the atrocities of chemical warfare."
During this series of battles, John lost a dear friend and fellow soldier named Alexis Helmer. On May 2nd of 1915, it was John who conducted his friend's funeral.
The following day John, deeply disturbed with the loss of his dear friend, along with many other soldiers dying around him, wrote a most heartfelt and powerful poem. He was riding in the back of a military ambulance visiting an Advanced Dressing Station just outside Ypres.
John jotted down some words that would reach many hearts throughout the world. Later that year, December 15th, 1915 it was published by the English weekly magazine called "Punch." It quickly became the most popular English poem of the WWI era and still recited in various regions of the world today.
In Flanders Fields
"In Flanders Fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row to row.
That marks our place, and in this 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 live
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 we break faith with us who die.
We shall not sleep, though the poppies grow
In Flanders Fields." John McCrae
Since the poem's initial publication, it has been translated into several languages. Coins, stamps, and war bonds have featured lines from the heartfelt masterpiece. This poem has been set to music and sung by various choirs for decades throughout the world.
The poem was named In Flanders Fields after the county of Flanders in western Belgium.
Poppies, a flower common in Belgium, became an intricate part of McCrae's poem simply by observation.
During the funeral for his close friend Alexis Helmer, John was overtaken how quickly poppies were already growing around the fresh dug graves of many soldiers. Each plot had been marked with a small white cross.
Today, red poppies symbolize loss of life. Purple poppies reminds us of members of our families living today who lost a grandfather or great uncle to the "Great War."
And white poppies? They remind the world never to use chemical warfare...ever again.
John McCrae never returned to Canada. In January of 1918, he battled pneumonia. John was admitted to Number 14 British General Hospital for Officers in Boulogne, France.
John McCrae passed away on January 28th, 1918. He died rank of Lt. Colonel. (Speculation still inquires if his death was partially induced because of exposure to chemical gas.)
His funeral included world dignitaries, government and military officials, along with many friends and admirers.
In the tradition of Mounted Canadian Officers, McCrae's boots were placed backwards in the stirrups during the funeral procession. The horse carrying his boots in honor was none other than John's beloved Bonfire.
"You silent tents of green,
We deck with fragrant flowers;
Yours has the suffering been,
The memory shall be ours." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
As we observe Memorial Day, allow yourself to pause and remember the many who have perished in various battle fronts in numerous wars to remind us why we stand free today.
As a very wise man once said:
"There is no greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
John 15:13
Acknowledgements: 1. Flanders Fields Music
2. The History Channel: Flanders Fields
3. In Flanders Fields Museum
Two men climbed out of the trench and carefully moved toward the ninety pound cylinders stacked horizontally thirty-five yards to the right of their unit. The winds had shifted and blew directly toward the enemy. Fellow soldiers, embedded in the trenches, kept their eyes glued on both men as they crawled toward the dark gray containers of death, avoiding stray gunfire that periodically sprayed about them.
Covered in an army green, oil based tarp, one soldier began to untie the ropes at the base of the three high stacked cylinders. His comrade quickly followed suit. Their hands shook...Were they cold? It was mid-May and the day had been extremely warm.
Before the troops arrival, the village had been picturesque. It was named Ypres, a Flemish community adored by the locals. Recognized centuries for its linen trade with England, Ypres dated back to the Middle Ages, being mentioned in The Canterbury Tales, first published in 1478.
As the men finished standing up one cylinder now positioned near the front line, a mystical silence gripped the air.
Another soldier, his right hand clenched to a valve handle located at the top of the cylinder, focused his eyes on the superior officer. He did not flinch a muscle.
The heavy, baritone voice once again broke through the silence of the night.
"Open the valve now Private. Now!"
The soldier, his right hand still gripped tightly to the valve, began slowly rotating it to the left. As the fumes began to fill the air, the young Private grasped his throat violently. About a dozen soldiers around him collapsed. The opened valve continued to release chlorine gas.
The horrors of chemical warfare had begun...
Lance Sergeant Elmer Cotton of the Canadian Full Artillery wrote in his journal the effects of chlorine gas on his fellow soldiers in the fall of 1915. He had been engaged in a series of battles against the Germans in Belgium throughout the year.
"It produces a flooding of the lungs. It is an equivalent death to drowning, only on dry land. The effects are these; a splitting headache and terrific thirst (to drink water is instant death,) a knife edged pain in the upper chest, followed by coughing up of a green froth off the stomach and lungs, ending finally in insensibility and death. The colour of the skin from white, turns to greenish, black, and yellow, the colour protrudes and the eyes assume a glossy stare. It is a fiendish death to die."
For many soldiers, within ten minutes after exposure, death occurred. Gas masks were not available in the early part of the war. Soldiers were given instructions to urinate on a cloth or handkerchief and use it to cover the mouth and nose. The ammonia in urine would neutralize the chlorine poisoning.
In 1918, the United States exercised the use of chemicals in warfare. A U.S. artillery unit fired poisonous gas against a large German unit. The American unit was led by Captain Harry S. Truman. (2)
By the end of WWI, one hundred thousand tons of chemical weapons had been used. An estimated 30,000 soldiers died from exposure. It is furthermore thought 500,000 suffered various repercussions throughout their lives from chemical effects.
In 1925 at the Geneva Protocol, chemical warfare was officially banned from use. However, the universal agreement did not outlaw the development of chemical use in warfare or the continued stockpiling of such weaponry.
Sadly, we still see its use in various regions of the world today.
----------------------------------------------------------
John McCrae was said to be a kind man. He was born in Guelph, Ontario and became a physician in the Canadian Mounted Forces Artillery. His friends and colleagues described him as warm and compassionate, a man of great empathy and deep conviction.
John's professional career included teaching, an author, a poet, and a faithful soldier. He wrote numerous medical articles while teaching as an associate of medicine at the Royal Victoria Hospital (1904) and later a professor of pathology at the University of Vermont (1911.) He co-authored a book titled A Textbook of Pathology for Students of Medicine."
At the beginning of WWI, "John followed a sense of duty to God, his country, and fellow man. He enlisted in the Canadian Forces Artillery and by 1915 had earned the rank of major. He was appointed brigade-surgeon and was stationed at Ypres, Belgium. Upon enlistment at 42 years of age, John was older than most WWI volunteers. In a letter to his mother he wrote, 'I am really afraid, but more afraid to stay at home with my conscience."
Being extremely fond of animals, John brought his beloved horse "Bonfire" to Europe. It is recorded he wrote numerous letters to a niece and nephew, addressing the letters as if they were from Bonfire. The signature was the hoof print of Bonfire.
While in service during the war, John befriended a dog named "Bonneau." His canine buddy would accompany John while making his rounds caring for wounded soldiers in various medical wards.
It was during a second series of battles at Ypres (1915) that John was deeply affected by the pain of war.
The German army had once again made use of chemical weapons in their attacks against the Canadian Artillery, specifically chlorine gas. McCrae wrote of his experience as "17 days of Hades." During this time John and the medical staff attended to nearly 4600 wounded. He went on and wrote "...endless days of being awake, sights of the dead, the maimed, the wounded, and the atrocities of chemical warfare."
During this series of battles, John lost a dear friend and fellow soldier named Alexis Helmer. On May 2nd of 1915, it was John who conducted his friend's funeral.
The following day John, deeply disturbed with the loss of his dear friend, along with many other soldiers dying around him, wrote a most heartfelt and powerful poem. He was riding in the back of a military ambulance visiting an Advanced Dressing Station just outside Ypres.
John jotted down some words that would reach many hearts throughout the world. Later that year, December 15th, 1915 it was published by the English weekly magazine called "Punch." It quickly became the most popular English poem of the WWI era and still recited in various regions of the world today.
In Flanders Fields
"In Flanders Fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row to row.
That marks our place, and in this 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 live
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 we break faith with us who die.
We shall not sleep, though the poppies grow
In Flanders Fields." John McCrae
Since the poem's initial publication, it has been translated into several languages. Coins, stamps, and war bonds have featured lines from the heartfelt masterpiece. This poem has been set to music and sung by various choirs for decades throughout the world.
The poem was named In Flanders Fields after the county of Flanders in western Belgium.
Poppies, a flower common in Belgium, became an intricate part of McCrae's poem simply by observation.
During the funeral for his close friend Alexis Helmer, John was overtaken how quickly poppies were already growing around the fresh dug graves of many soldiers. Each plot had been marked with a small white cross.
Today, red poppies symbolize loss of life. Purple poppies reminds us of members of our families living today who lost a grandfather or great uncle to the "Great War."
And white poppies? They remind the world never to use chemical warfare...ever again.
John McCrae never returned to Canada. In January of 1918, he battled pneumonia. John was admitted to Number 14 British General Hospital for Officers in Boulogne, France.
John McCrae passed away on January 28th, 1918. He died rank of Lt. Colonel. (Speculation still inquires if his death was partially induced because of exposure to chemical gas.)
His funeral included world dignitaries, government and military officials, along with many friends and admirers.
In the tradition of Mounted Canadian Officers, McCrae's boots were placed backwards in the stirrups during the funeral procession. The horse carrying his boots in honor was none other than John's beloved Bonfire.
"You silent tents of green,
We deck with fragrant flowers;
Yours has the suffering been,
As we observe Memorial Day, allow yourself to pause and remember the many who have perished in various battle fronts in numerous wars to remind us why we stand free today.
As a very wise man once said:
"There is no greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
John 15:13
Acknowledgements: 1. Flanders Fields Music
2. The History Channel: Flanders Fields
3. In Flanders Fields Museum
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