In Flanders Fields



"So sad to our friends go, I would've recited this sad poem to myself, the Preschool Girls, my fellow soldiers of the Republic of Korea Army, and the whole of my village. That one must've been written by John McCrae. He's a Canadian guy whose poem is written to inspire dead soldiers and living soldiers alike during World War I. It's especially said in the poppy fields of Flanders when it was ravaged by this great war... except for the poppy ones. I wish I could wear one every November 11st. Now Lucy is going to say this poem too, even when she's teaming up with the Nickelodeon Girls back then before being the Supreme Commander of the Republic of Indonesia. I will recite this one to her."

--Su Ji-Hoon, Operation: Invasion Der Zukünftigen Akademie

"In Flanders Fields" is a war poem in the form of a rondeau, written during the First World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. He was inspired to write it on 3 May 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres. According to legend, fellow soldiers retrieved the poem after McCrae, initially dissatisfied with his work, discarded it. "In Flanders Fields" was first published on December 8 of that year in the London magazine Punch.

It is one of the most popular and most quoted poems from the war. As a result of its immediate popularity, parts of the poem were used in efforts and appeals to recruit soldiers and raise money selling war bonds. Its references to the red poppies that grew over the graves of fallen soldiers resulted in the remembrance poppy becoming one of the world's most recognized memorial symbols for soldiers who have died in conflict. The poem and poppy are prominent Remembrance Day symbols throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, particularly in Canada, where "In Flanders Fields" is one of the nation's best-known literary works. The poem is also widely known in the United States, where it is associated with Memorial Day.

In When the Cold Breeze Blows Away, it is intended to be memoralized for a South Korean Memorial Day. Also, it will be recited by Lucy Loud when she was a member of the Nickelodeon Girls, back then during the Battle of Antwerp, just before eventually becoming the Supreme Commander of the Republic of Indonesia after she and her siblings went on their separate ways.