Canadian Major (later Lieutenant-Colonel) John McCrae, a field surgeon in the Canadian artillery, wrote this in the Second Battle of Ypres in May 1915:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the 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 lie 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 ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders Fields.

It will never cease to amaze me that young men and (I assume) young women lied about their age to fight over 100 years ago. They volunteered to put their lives on the line, to save the societies and institutions they created and were blessed with.

Lest we forget.