The poem's author was Lt. Col. John McCrae, who was then serving with the Canadian army in World War I. The war was less than a year old in May 1915, but McCrae had already seen firsthand some of the damage war could inflict on his friends, colleagues and patients. Medical facilities often stood side-by-side with makeshift military cemeteries, and McCrae took inspiration from these for his poem. He wrote it in just 20 minutes, perched on the back of an ambulance.
McCrae initially put the poem to one side, but a colleague liked it so much he sent it to the London magazine "Punch." "Punch" published it, unsigned, on Dec. 8, 1915.
The poem was quickly re-published around the world, with many readers penning their own poems in response. One of those moved by it was American Moina Michael who, inspired by the poppies in the poem, made and sold poppies to raise money for those injured during the war. Her idea was picked up in Europe and across the British Empire of the time, helping to make poppies the British symbol of remembrance. To this day, the Royal British Legion sells millions of poppies each November to aid servicemen injured in conflict.
McCrae served with the Canadian army throughout the war, treating thousands of wounded soldiers. According to John F. Prescott Ph.D. of the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, McCrae insisted on living in unheated tents like his men. His health began to suffer, and he died from pneumonia and meningitis in January 1918. He was given a full military funeral.
McCrae is buried at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery at Wimereaux in northern France, but he is also remembered elsewhere. Essex Farm cemetery, which inspired the poem, is home to a special memorial marking the fact, while his family home in Guelph, Canada, is now a museum. Perhaps his most important memorial remains the poem, which continues to be used at remembrance ceremonies each year and is known by millions.