Pomona High School
Class of 1965 Red Devils
Class of 1965 Veterans
In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918), Canadian Army
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.
Poem's History
McCrae's "In Flanders Fields" remains to this day one of the most memorable war poems ever written. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible battle in the Ypres salient in the spring of 1915. Here is the story of the making of that poem.
Although he had been a doctor for years and had served in the South African War, it was impossible to get used to the suffering, the screams, and the blood here, and Major John McCrae had seen and heard enough in his dressing station to last him a lifetime.
As a surgeon attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Major McCrae, who had joined the McGill faculty in 1900 after graduating from the University of Toronto, had spent seventeen days treating injured men -- Canadians, British, Indians, French, and Germans -- in the Ypres salient.
It had been an ordeal that he had hardly thought possible. McCrae later wrote of it: "I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of that seventeen days... Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have folded our hands and said it could not have been done."
One death particularly affected McCrae. A young friend and former student, Lieut. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, had been killed by a shell burst on 2 May 1915. Lieutenant Helmer was buried later that day in the little cemetery outside McCrae's dressing station, and McCrae had performed the funeral ceremony in the absence of the chaplain.
The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the Canal de l'Yser, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. The major was no stranger to writing, having authored several medical texts besides dabbling in poetry.
In the nearby cemetery, McCrae could see the wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches in that part of Europe, and he spent twenty minutes of precious rest time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook.
A young soldier watched him write it. Cyril Allinson, a twenty-two year old sergeant-major, was delivering mail that day when he spotted McCrae. The major looked up as Allinson approached, then went on writing while the sergeant-major stood there quietly. "His face was very tired but calm as we wrote," Allinson recalled. "He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer's grave."
When McCrae finished five minutes later, he took his mail from Allinson
and, without saying a word, handed his pad to the young NCO. Allinson was moved by what he read:
"The poem was exactly an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene."
In fact, it was very nearly not published. Dissatisfied with it, McCrae tossed the poem away, but a fellow officer retrieved it and sent it to newspapers in England. The Spectator, in London, rejected it, but Punch published it on8 December 1915.
Their Stories
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I was in the military from 1966 through 1968. I was in the 226 MP's station in Ft. Irwin, Calif (Death Valley). I got out as a sergeant E-5 as an investigator. Rick Smith is also doing a good job.
Dave Baldwin --Class of 65
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I was drafted in 1969 and served in Vietnam, coming home Easter of 1971. I had a whole year of training in Oklahoma before I went to Vietnam.... a funny story about that... I trained for six months in artillery and graduated as a sergeant, chief of section--Artillery Battery. I landed in Vietnam and they immediately made me a Forward Observer. I was responsible for calling in artillery with the infantry company that I was assigned to. I never fired an artillery round the entire 10 months that I was there! That's the Army for you! Even though he came to a bad end, my hero as far as the war goes is Richard Nixon! He reduced troop numbers to under 300,000 by a certain date and I fell under that number. So, I was able to come home early.... My biggest shock coming home was seeing the price of hot dogs in the airport after I landed in Seattle!
Dan Butcher -- Class of 65
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I served in the Army in 1968 and 1969 including a year (1969) with the 70th Engineer Battalion, Ban Me Thout,Vietnam.
Charles Coulter -- Class of 65
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Enlisted 4 JAN 68 - 1 year at Service School Command, in San Diego, teaching Yeomen, Personnel men and Storekeepers how to type. Then 3 years at Naval Intelligence Command in the Pentagon, Special Activities Branch, working for NAVINTCOM1. It was a pretty exciting time to be in the service and there was lots to do in DC, needless to say! I would add: that's where I got my first exposure to computers - we were punching intelligence data into the old Hollerith cards - remember those? Xerox copy machines as we know them were just coming out, and we were still using the old A.B. Dick copiers - the ones with the blue sheets and rollers.....Came home at the end of 1971 as a YN2 (E-5) and took up residence in San Diego. The Navy offered me duty in Hawaii if I'd re-up, but when I asked for details the Bureau of Personnel (BUPERS for you ex Navy types) said they could only guarantee one year of the three year enlistment would be at Pearl Harbor. I asked where the rest of the tour would be and they said in the Pacific. I was thinking Sydney, or Bangkok, but the Navy was thinking: Destroyer at sea. It didn't sound too good at the time, but now I wish I'd done it. I would have retired 20 years ago if I had, with a nice pension and full medical & free travel. Oh well....
Steve Grothe -- Class of 65
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I left UCLA after only one semester and arrived at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, for boot camp in January of '66. After boot camp and infantry training, I became a tracked vehicle mechanic -- Landing Vehicle, Tracked -- aka Amphibious Tractor (AmTrac, familiarly). In 1968 I arrived in Viet Nam during the Tet offensive. It was pretty bizarre watching the first days of that offensive on TV, at home and then plopping into the real thing a few days later. I was assigned to 3rd AmTrac Bn, 1st Marine Division. I ultimately ended up in the field as maintenance chief of a platoon that operated as support for Korean Marines operating in the general vicinity of Hoi An and An Hoa. I finished my service back at Camp Pendleton, until I was discharged in March of 1970. Then forty years went by, and now it's today (short version).
Patrick Jones -- Class of 65
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1970 Enlisted in the USMC. Attended OCS, and received a commission upon completion as a 2nd Lieutenant. Attended the Basic School, Quantico VA. and then received orders for Okinawa with a primary M.O.S. as an Infantry Platoon Commander. Followed up with one tour of duty Viet Nam, t After completion of overseas tour, I was stationed at Camp Pendleton California and left service in 1974 as a 1st Lieutenant.
Frank Bruckner -- Class of 65
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I served in the U.S.A.F. for four years,1967-1971. Basic was at Lackland AFB. Tech school was at Amarillo AFB. I refueled planes both by truck and by under ground pipelines leading to refueling sites. After tech., I was stationed at Wheelus AFB, Libya, North Africa. I was there from Nov. 1967 to Feb. 1969. I came back stateside and was stationed at Vandenburg AFB near Lompoc, Calif. While there, I was trained to drive 15 ton tractors to haul fuel to missile sites. I was discharged in 1971.
Len Chester -- Class of 65
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I was drafted into the Army in 1966. I served in Viet Nam, 25th Infantry Division out of Cu Chi (the movie “Platoon” was about my unit). Wounded, sent to a hospital in Japan and then to Letterman General in San Francisco, received a Purple Heart.
Jeff Engel -- Class of 65
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I served in the Army Security Agency as a Korean Lingquist from March, 1966 to October, 1971. Jack Plump and I went in on the "buddy system", went to basic training together at Ford Ord, then went different directions and then were both stationed in Japan. Jack served up north near Tokyo and I was stationed on the southern island of Kyushu for three years. After that, I went to Korea for 1 1/2 years before being discharged from Ft. Lewis near Tacoma. The flight home provided me with a spectacular view of the Northwest and I logged in the back of my mind that if I ever had a chance to come back up here, I would. A job offer provided the opportunity and we've been in Vancouver, WA for 25 years.
Dan Rohrbach -- Class of 65
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Colonel, USMCR (Ret). Active duty 6/65-6/69 @ US Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD; active duty 6/69-2/82 USMC; Quantico, VA; Phoenix, AZ; Cherry Point,NC; Beaufort, SC; Iwakuni Japan; Beeville, TX; Edwards, CA; Pt Mugu, CA; reserve duty 2/82-8/94, El Toro, CA
Jim Sandberg -- Class of 1965
