On December 8, 1915, Punch magazine published a poem commemorating the dead of World War I. "In Flanders Fields" was written by John McCrae of Guelph, Ontario, after his experiences in the trench warfare around Ypres, Belgium.

McCrae enlisted in the First Canadian Contingent soon after the beginning of World War I in 1914. He was posted as a medical officer to one of the artillery batteries fighting at Ypres in April 1915. He died of pneumonia during the war in 1918.

Major McCrae had served during the Boer War (1899-1900) in South Africa. A conflict over independence, the Boers were fighting against Britain's attempts to integrate South Africa into the British Empire. Canadian volunteers went to South Africa at the request of the British government. Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier did not send Regular troops (enlisted men).