"In Flanders Fields" is a war poem written by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian physician, during World War I on May 3, 1915, after after presiding over the funeral of his friend and fellow soldier, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, who was killed during the Second Battle of Ypres.
As legend has it, McCrae initially discarded the poem, dissatisfied with his writing. However, fellow soldiers recovered it, leading to its publication on December 8, 1915.
The title refers to Flanders Fields, a term for the battlefields in Belgium and France where many soldiers perished, symbolized by the red poppies that grew over soldiers' graves.