The collective voice of the fallen soldiers who died during the Second Battle of Ypres. Speaking from beyond the grave in first-person plural, they contrast the peaceful natural world above them with the violent human warfare that ended their lives. They reflect warmly on the short days ago when they lived, felt the dawn, saw the sunset, and loved others. Burying any regrets, they present a unified front and issue a final, urgent command to those who survive them, refusing to rest peacefully unless their military cause is continued.

A Canadian physician, poet, and artilleryman who serves as an army medic in the Canadian Field Artillery during World War I. Stationed at the Second Battle of Ypres, he treats the wounded and dying on the front lines. The loss of his close friend and the sight of red poppies blooming on freshly dug graves move him to write a lyric poem commemorating the soldiers' sacrifice. He balances a demanding medical career at hospitals in Toronto and Maryland with a lifelong devotion to military service, ultimately taking charge of a Canadian military hospital in France.

A 22-year-old lieutenant in the Canadian military who fights in the Second Battle of Ypres. He is killed in action during the early days of May 1915, becoming one of the tens of thousands of casualties in the conflict. His burial and the red poppies growing around his newly made grave serve as the direct emotional catalyst for the poem's composition. He represents the personal face of the broader wartime tragedy for his fellow soldiers.

The surviving soldiers and citizens whom the fallen directly address from the cemetery in Flanders Fields. They receive the figurative torch passed from the failing hands of the deceased. They are tasked with taking up the quarrel with the enemy and holding the torch high. Their ongoing commitment to the fight represents the only way the fallen can rest peacefully, creating a bond of obligation and active remembrance between the survivors and the casualties of war.

The father of John McCrae, living in Guelph, Ontario. He serves as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Canadian military. His background sets a direct precedent of military service and dedication that heavily influences his son's own path into the armed forces, beginning with the Highfield Cadet Corps and extending through multiple international conflicts.