Canada 150 - "In Flanders Fields" written this week in 1915

It is one of Canada’s best-known literary works. It inspired one of the most enduring symbols of remembrance in the world.
It is still memorized by school children and recited on November 11 across the country and around the world.
On this day in 1915, Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae penned “In Flanders Fields”
Inspired by the funeral of his friend Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres, McCrae evokes the iconic image of the red poppies growing among white crosses marking the graves of soldiers.
It is a meditation on death and a call to arms.
In that year, the second year of the Great War, The Enterprise was preoccupied by the conflict in Europe, as were most newspapers no doubt. In the May 6 edition of the paper, the front page carried news of local men wounded in battle.
“By private wire today Mrs. F. C. Douglas, of Rokeby, has been advised by the Adjutant-General that her husband, Private Frank Charles Douglas is officially reported wounded,” the report detailed.
“Private Douglas is well known here having been in the real estate business for some time prior to the outbreak of war. He left with the first detachment mobilized for active service. Since the departure of her husband, Mrs. Douglas has been living with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. Oxenbury, of the Rokeby District.
“Another casualty among the gallant boys, who left Yorkton for Valcartier last August, and who have proven themselves to be of the stuff that true Britons are made of, was reported on Monday. Among that day’s list of wounded was the name of Private Walter Thornaldson of Bredenbury, Sask. Private Thornaldson was among the first to volunteer for active service and formed part of the first contingent from Yorkton.”
Also of great concern to Yorkton in May 1915, was the question of temperance.
On the front page that week, The Enterprise published a sermon by Reverand G. B. McLennan of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church.
“No apology is necessary for dealing with a theme so vital and far-reaching as the temperance issue,” he opined.
“If through fear or timidity I should shrink from what is my plain and bounden duty I should be unworthy of a place in that church which since the days of Knox and Rutherford, Erskines and Chalmers has had within its ranks many of the foremost statesmen and reformers both in Europe and America. A church that has ever stood for progress, for freedom and for truth.
“Moreover I speak from no personal or partisan motive, but only from a sincere desire to promote the Kingdom of God in the hearts of men. In support of this statement I call to your remembrance that four months ago I publicly criticized in no uncertain terms the government of this province. That in the meeting of the Reform Association of this town, I, along with several others openly expressed myself as prepared to abandon the Reform Party if it refused to give heed to the clamourous demands of an awakened public.”
That week in Yorkton Ford Touring cars were selling for $590.