A war poem from 1915 is dusted off for Portsmouth's Veterans Day

American Legion hosts ceremony at Town Hall

By Jim McGaw
Posted 11/11/19

PORTSMOUTH — A poem written more than 100 years ago was dusted off to become the focal point of Monday’s Veterans Day ceremony at Town Hall.

U.S. Navy Commander Tom Baldwin, the …

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A war poem from 1915 is dusted off for Portsmouth's Veterans Day

American Legion hosts ceremony at Town Hall

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — A poem written more than 100 years ago was dusted off to become the focal point of Monday’s Veterans Day ceremony at Town Hall.

U.S. Navy Commander Tom Baldwin, the event’s guest speaker, dissected “In Flanders Fields,” a poem written during World War I by Lt. Col. John McCrae, a Canadian doctor, in memory of his friend and fellow soldier Lt. Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915.

The poem begins, “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.”

“You didn’t think you’d be getting a poetry lesson this morning at Portsmouth Town Hall, did you?” Commander Baldwin quipped. 

McCrae’s words, written three years before his death of pneumonia at the age of 45, “capture the scene and his own feelings about the war,” Commander Baldwin said, adding that the poem contrasts the brutal imagery of war with the beauty of the English language.

“The poem comments on the fragility of life, but he also comments on (its) humanity and warmth,” he said.

Its last stanza, he noted, addresses those who survived the war. 

“They are asked by the survivors to carry on the fight,” he said. “McCrae’s message was, he wants the fighting and dying to mean something.”

A few years after the poem was published, American professor Moina Michael found inspiration in “In Flanders Fields.” She resolved at the war's conclusion in 1918 to wear a red poppy year-round to honor the soldiers who had died in the conflict. 

Poppies — they were handed out to all afterward — represent resiliency and are a timeless symbol of the valor of heroism, Commander Baldwin said. Without the poppies, John McCrae might never have written a poem about the war, and Moina Michael wouldn’t have carried on his legacy, he said.

“By mid-1920, she got the Georgia’s branch of the American Legion to adopt the poppy” as a symbol of remembrance, Commander Baldwin said.

‘Torch-bearer’

He finished his speech by saying it was only fitting that he was appearing at a Veterans Day event hosted by The American Legion, since that organization first inspired him to consider military service so many years ago.

As a high school junior in Maryland, where he grew up, he participated in Boys State, a summer leadership and citizenship program sponsored by The American Legion and the American Legion Auxiliary.

“I remember standing fire watch at 3 a.m. and wondering, ‘Why are we doing this?’ But it set me on the course my life took,” Commander Baldwin said. “The American Legion, in my mind, stands as a torch-bearer.”

Wreaths Across America

Those who attended Monday’s ceremony were reminded about “Wreaths Across America” Day, which will be celebrated at noon on Saturday, Dec. 14.

The ceremony is being held simultaneously across the country at more than 1,200 locations, including Island Cemetery and Common Burial Ground, born in Newport.

The goal is for volunteers to place a live, balsam fir wreath at the headstone of every veteran buried at the cemeteries. About 750 wreaths are needed, and volunteers are raising the needed funds. The event is being sponsored locally by the Newport chapter of Surface Navy Association.

The event will start at the grave of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry at Island Cemetery, 30 Warner St., Newport. For more information, visit https://wreathsacrossamerica.org.

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