Editing In Flanders Fields (section)

==Legacy==
[[File:Vimy_Memorial_war_recruitment_poster.jpg|thumb|The [[Vimy Memorial]] and part of "In Flanders Fields" on a Second World War recruitment poster]]
McCrae was moved to the medical corps and stationed in [[Boulogne-sur-Mer|Boulogne]], France, in June 1915 where he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and placed in charge of medicine at the Number 3 Canadian General Hospital.<ref>{{harvnb|Prescott|1985|p=101}}</ref> He was promoted to the acting rank of [[colonel]] on January 13, 1918, and named Consulting Physician to the British Armies in France. The years of war had worn McCrae down; he contracted [[pneumonia]] that day and later came down with [[meningitis|cerebral meningitis]]. On January 28, 1918, he died at the military hospital in [[Wimereux]] and was buried there with full military honours.<ref>{{harvnb|Bassett|1984|pp=59–60}}</ref> A book of his works, featuring "In Flanders Fields", was published the following year.<ref name="BreakingFaith">{{citation |last=Holmes |first=Nancy |url=http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/scl/article/view/15269/16346 |title="In Flanders Fields" – Canada's Official Poem: Breaking Faith |journal=Studies in Canadian Literature |publisher=University of New Brunswick |year=2005 |volume=30 |issue=1 |access-date=2012-02-11}}</ref>

[[File:Shubenacadie Cenotaph.jpg|thumb|left|''To you from failing hands we throw / The torch; be yours to hold it high.'' – cenotaph sculpture, [[Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia]]]]
"In Flanders Fields" is very popular in Canada, where it is a staple of [[Remembrance Day]] ceremonies and may be the best-known literary piece among English Canadians.<ref name="BreakingFaith" /> It has an official French adaptation, entitled [[:fr:Au champ d'honneur|"Au champ d'honneur"]], written by Jean Pariseau and used by the Canadian government in French and bilingual ceremonies.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.veterans.gc.ca/fra/histoire/premiereguerre/vimy/poeme |title=Le Canada pendant la Première Guerre mondiale et la route vers la crête de Vimy |language=fr |publisher=Veterans Affairs Canada |access-date=2012-02-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026074045/http://www.veterans.gc.ca/fra/histoire/premiereguerre/vimy/poeme |archive-date=October 26, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> With an excerpted appearance on the ten-dollar bill from 2001 to 2013, the Royal Canadian Mint has released poppy-themed [[Quarter (Canadian coin)|quarters]] on several occasions. A version minted in 2004 featured a red poppy in the centre and is considered the first multi-coloured circulation coin in the world.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.mint.ca/store/campaign/poppy_tab2.jsp |title=A symbol of remembrance |publisher=Royal Canadian Mint |access-date=2012-02-11 |archive-date=September 18, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120918001530/http://www.mint.ca/store/campaign/poppy_tab2.jsp |url-status=dead }}</ref> To mark the poem's centennial in 2015, a coloured and uncoloured poppy quarter and a "toonie" ($2 coin) were issued as circulation coins, as well as other collector coins.<ref>[http://www.mint.ca/store/product/rcmcoins.jsp?campaignName=CirculationPoppy&pId=3600018&lang=en_CA Never forget with the 2015 Remembrance coins], Royal Canadian Mint order form, October 2015</ref><ref>[http://www.mint.ca/store/news/royal-canadian-mint-commemorates-100th-anniversary-of-in-flanders-fields-with-silver-collector-coins-24700040?cat=News+releases&nId=700002&parentnId=600004&nodeGroup=About+the+Mint Royal Canadian Mint Commemorates 100th Anniversary of In Flanders Fields with Silver Collector Coins] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074502/http://www.mint.ca/store/news/royal-canadian-mint-commemorates-100th-anniversary-of-in-flanders-fields-with-silver-collector-coins-24700040?cat=News+releases&nId=700002&parentnId=600004&nodeGroup=About+the+Mint |date=March 4, 2016 }} Royal Canadian Mint news release, April 30, 2015</ref> Among its uses in popular culture, the lines "to you from failing hands we throw / the torch, be yours to hold it high" has served as a motto for the [[Montreal Canadiens]] hockey club since 1940.<ref>{{citation |url=http://archives.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/clips/16401/ |title=Last game at the Montreal Forum |publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] |access-date=2012-02-11}}</ref>

[[File:John-mccrae-1968-canada-stamp.jpg|thumb|1968 Canada stamp honouring John McCrae]][[Canada Post]] honoured the 50th anniversary of John McCrae's death with a stamp in 1968 and marked the centennial of his famous poem in 2015. Other Canadian stamps have featured the poppy, including ones in 1975, 2001, 2009,<ref name="MyUser_Https:_November_12_2015c">{{cite web |url=https://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/personal/collecting/stamps/2009/2009_Lest_We_Forget.jsf |title=Lest We Forget |newspaper=Canada Post |access-date=November 12, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117025041/https://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/personal/collecting/stamps/2009/2009_Lest_We_Forget.jsf |archive-date=November 17, 2015 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> 2013 and 2014. Other postal authorities have employed the poppy as a symbol of remembrance, including those of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom.<ref name="MyUser_Https:_November_12_2015d">{{cite web |url=https://www.canadapost.ca/web/en/blogs/consumer/details.page?article=2015/04/29/in_flanders_fields_s&cattype=Consumer&cat=mailandmore |title=In Flanders Fields stamp issue |newspaper=Canada Post |date=April 29, 2015  |access-date= November 12, 2015}}</ref>
[[File:Mccrea house museum Guelph 3749.jpg|thumb|The birthplace of John McCrae in Guelph, Ontario]]
[[McCrae House|McCrae's birthplace]] in Guelph, Ontario has been converted into a museum dedicated to his life and the war.<ref>{{citation |last=Hill |first=Valerie |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/498773431.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS |title=Lest We Forget McCrae House keeps realities of war alive |work=Kitchener Record |date=1998-11-07 |access-date=2012-02-20 }}{{dead link|date=July 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> McCrae was named a [[Persons of National Historic Significance|National Historic Person]] in 1946, and his house was listed as a [[National Historic Sites of Canada|National Historic Site]] in 1966.<ref>[http://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=1206 McCrae, Lieutenant-Colonel John National Historic Person], Parks Canada, 2012</ref><ref>[http://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=378 McCrae House National Historic Site], Parks Canada, 2012</ref>
[[File:John McCrae, Essex Farm Military Cemetery.jpg|thumb|right|The monument commemorating "In Flanders Fields" at [[Essex Farm Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery]] near Ypres.]]
In Belgium, the [[In Flanders Fields Museum]] in [[Ypres]], named after the poem and devoted to the First World War, is situated in one of Flanders' largest tourist areas.<ref>{{citation |url=http://kw.knack.be/west-vlaanderen/nieuws/algemeen/nieuw-streekbezoekerscentrum-ieper-officieel-geopend/article-4000039582184.htm |title=Nieuw streekbezoekerscentrum Ieper officieel geopend |language=nl |publisher=Knack.be |date=2012-02-05 |access-date=2012-02-13 |archive-date=February 7, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207160654/http://kw.knack.be/west-vlaanderen/nieuws/algemeen/nieuw-streekbezoekerscentrum-ieper-officieel-geopend/article-4000039582184.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> A monument commemorating the writing of the poem is located at [[Essex Farm Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery]], which is thought to have been the location of Helmer's burial and lies within the John McCrae Memorial Site.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/ieper/essex-farm/lieutenant-colonel-mccrae.php |title=Ieper (Ypres) – Belgium – Nearby site: Essex Farm Cemetery, Boezinge – Lieutenant Colonel McCrae |date=July 2013 |website=www.ww1westernfront.gov.au |publisher=Department of Veterans' Affairs and Board of Studies, New South Wales |access-date=8 April 2016 |archive-date=March 7, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307155932/http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/ieper/essex-farm/lieutenant-colonel-mccrae.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Despite its fame, "In Flanders Fields" is often ignored by academics teaching and discussing [[Canadian literature]].<ref name="BreakingFaith" /> The poem is sometimes viewed as an [[anachronism]]; it spoke of glory and honour in a war that has since become synonymous with the futility of trench warfare and the slaughter produced by 20th-century weaponry.<ref name="Prescott133" /> [[Nancy Holmes]], professor at the [[University of British Columbia]], speculated that its patriotic nature and use as a tool for propaganda may have led literary critics to view it as a [[national symbol]] or anthem rather than a poem.<ref name="BreakingFaith" />

===Remembrance poppies===
{{main|Remembrance poppy}}
The [[Papaver rhoeas|red poppies]] that McCrae referred to had been associated with conflict since the [[Napoleonic Wars]] when a writer of that time first noted how the poppies grew over the graves of soldiers.<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/remembrance-day-lest-we-forget-1.725730 |title=Remembrance Day: Lest we forget |publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] |date=2010-11-10 |access-date=2012-02-08}}</ref> The damage done to the landscape in Flanders during the battle greatly increased the lime content in the surface soil, leaving the poppy as one of the few plants able to grow in the region.<ref name="BBCPoppy2006">{{citation |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6133312.stm |title=Where did the idea to sell poppies come from? |work=BBC News |date=2006-11-10 |access-date=2012-02-08}}</ref>

Inspired by "In Flanders Fields", American professor [[Moina Michael]] resolved at the war's conclusion in 1918 to wear a [[Papaver rhoeas|red poppy]] year-round to honour the soldiers who had died in the war. She also wrote a poem in response called "[[We Shall Keep the Faith]]".<ref>{{citation |url=http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/mmichael.htm |title=Moina Michael |publisher=Digital Library of Georgia |access-date=2012-02-08}}</ref> She distributed silk poppies to her peers and campaigned to have them adopted as an official symbol of remembrance by the [[American Legion]]. Madame E. Guérin attended the 1920 convention where the Legion supported Michael's proposal and was inspired to sell poppies in her native France to raise money for the war's orphans.<ref name="BBCPoppy2011">{{citation |last=Rahman |first=Rema |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15637074 |title=Who, What, Why: Which countries wear poppies? |work=BBC News |date=2011-11-09 |access-date=2012-02-08}}</ref> In 1921, Guérin sent poppy sellers to London ahead of [[Armistice Day]], attracting the attention of [[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|Field Marshal]] [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|Douglas Haig]]. A co-founder of [[The Royal British Legion]], Haig supported and encouraged the sale.<ref name="BBCPoppy2006" /> The practice quickly spread throughout the British Empire. The wearing of poppies in the days leading up to [[Remembrance Day]] remains popular in many areas of the [[Commonwealth of Nations]], particularly United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and in the days leading up to [[ANZAC Day]] in Australia and New Zealand.<ref name="BBCPoppy2011" />