Ghandi once stated, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." These are words to live by especially if you fight in war. I believe that Ghandi meant that war is horrible and unjust. I also believe that John McCrae would agree with Ghandi. One day in Ypres-Belgium Major John McCrae and many other soldiers noticed that where ever their comrades were buried dead red poppies grew around them. This gave John the idea to write the world famous poem "In Flanders Fields". People read this magnificent poem to remember dead soldiers who fought for our freedom and safety. John was born and raised in Guelph, Ontario. He was educated at the University of Toronto but was then appointed fellow in Pathology at McGill's University in Montreal. While in McGill's John had published many poems before the war. McCrae moved on to become a physician at the Alexandra Hospital and an assistant physician at Victoria Hospital in Montreal. John McCrae wasn't new to war. He had served at an artillery subaltern (1899-1900) in the Canadian Contingent during the Boer war in South Africa. He was later posted as a medical officer to one of the artillery batteries fighting at Ypres in April 1915. That was where he made the poem "In Flanders Fields". Later on June I, 1915 McCrae was transferred to Boulogne No. 3 General Hospital in charge of medicine and he stayed there till his death on Jan 28, 1918. In my opinion John McCrae was a poetic genius and his poem will live on forever because his vision in his poem was that war must be stopped and I know it will.
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