It was at Essex Farm Cemetery on the outskirts of Ieper that Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae of the Canadian Army Medical Corps wrote the poem In Flanders Fields following the death of his close friend Alexis Helmer, killed on May 2, 1915, during the Second Battle of Ypres and buried among the poppies. 
 
In a dugout cut into the bank of the canal, and under the most abysmal conditions, McCrae tended to the wounded on a continuous basis. His stirring poem has made the poppy a lasting symbol of self-sacrifice in war. On site is a Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada plaque in honour of John McCrae. This site is one of the most visited sites in the whole Ieper area, with close to 200,000 visitors annually. In 1995, two local secondary schools and the City of Ieper renovated the bunkers on the site. Although the bunkers as such did not exist yet at the time John McCrae wrote In Flanders Fields, he worked there as a field surgeon in dugouts cut into the bank of the canal, where the bunkers now are located. 

Mounting of the Catafalque Party







Welcome by Lieutenant-Colonel Carl Gauthier



Reading of the poem 'In Flanders Fields' door Madison Barrow (English) en Gérémy Côté (French)





Speech by Ms. Sherry Romanando, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence



Speech by Mr. Jan Louagie, teacher from Instituut Heilige Familie Ieper



Reading of background information on Luitenant-Kolonel John McCrae en Alex Helmer by Ben Jamieson en Kiera Wortley





Prayers by Lieutenant Zbigniew Jonczyk



Act of Remembrance by Hugh O'Donnell (English) and Luc Tremblay (French)





Commitment to Remember by Teghan Angulalik (English), Gérémy Côté (French) en Emma Paris Y Lopez (Dutch)







Last Post, Minute of Silence, Rouse en Lament
(*)

Wreat-laying at the memorial by:
HisExcellency, Mr. Olivier Nicoloff,Ambassador of Canada to the Kingdom of Belgium and to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and Ms. Sherry Romanando, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence



Mr. Jan Durnez, Mayer of Ypres and Mr. Jef Verschoore, Alderman, Town of Ypres



National anthems







Invitation to place a poppy at the Monument





Dismounting of the Catafalque Party



Picture of the delegation of the high school Heilige Familie Ypres



Page made by IDG and Filip Van Loo
(*) pictures by the Canadian Army