 In a letter written to his mother, McCrae described the battle as a "nightmare",

Alexis Helmer, a close friend, was killed during the battle on May 2.McCrae performed the burial service himself, at which time he noted how poppies quickly grew around the graves of those who died at Ypres.The next day, he composed the poem while sitting in the back of an ambulance at an Advanced Dressing Station outside Ypres.