11 NOVEMBER 2013
122 GILMOUR STREET, OTTAWA, ONTARIO
This house was the home of Brigadier General R. A. Helmer and his wife Elizabeth. Their only son Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, aged 22, was killed on May 2, 1915 near Ypres. His death was the inspiration for Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae’s poem “In Flanders Fields”. It was this poem that would make the poppy the floral emblem of remembrance throughout the British Commonwealth.
LISGAR COLLEGIATE (formerly OTTAWA COLLEGIATE)
High school attended by Alexis which was just a few blocks from his parent’s residence. A memorial to Alexis is inside as there is in the central Ottawa church of Dominion-Chalmers.
Record of Alexis’ death:
Son of Elizabeth I. Helmer, of 122, Gilmour St., Ottawa, and the late Brig. Gen. R. A. Helmer. The following circumstances of his death have been compiled from letters received by Lieut Owen Carsley Frederic Hague’s father, Frederic Hague from officers in the area at the time. Early on Sunday morning, May 2, 1915 Lieutenants’ Hague and Helmer left their position to check on a Canadian Battery who had positioned themselves on the bank of the Yser Canal near St. Julien close to the France-Belgium border. They had only gone a few yards when a six inch, high explosive canon shell burst. Lieut. Helmer was killed instantly. Lieut. Helmer was a close friend of Capt. John McCrae and was the inspiration for “In Flanders Fields”.