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Biography

John (Mccrae) McCrae MD is Notable.

Born November 30, 1872 in Guelph, Ontario,^[2] he was the second son ofDavid Mccrae, a woollen manufacturer and former soldier, andJanet Eckford. He earned his medical degree from the University of Toronto and briefly worked as an intern withWilliam Osler at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital. Although awarded a fellowship in pathology at McGill University in 1899, he decided to postpone the appointment in order to serve in the South African War as a lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Artillery.

McCrae was a well-liked officer and, on his return to Montreal in 1901,^[3][4] was a popular club- and church-goer. He belonged to the Pen and Pencil Club, the University Club, the Montreal Military Institute, and St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church. An excellent pathologist, he eventually devoted himself to clinical work and lectured at McGill. He co-write a textbook on pathology, which was published in 1912. He also wrote poetry, publishing about 30 poems in various magazines over his lifetime.^[5]

Lt.-Col. John McCrae and his dog Bonneau

As World War One began, McCrae signed up at Valcartier, Quebec, on September 22, 1914.^[6] He served as the brigade surgeon for the 1st Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery. After fighting in France, the brigade was moved in April 1915 to the Ypres salient in Belgium. On April 22, a deadly gas attack killed half the brigade. McCrae's well-known poem was written while he was waiting at an advance dressing station for the wounded to arrive from the battlefield and was inspired by the death of his friendAlexis Helmer during the Second Battle of Ypres.

McCrae, who had been asthmatic as a child, sacrificed his own health tending to the sick and wounded soldiers in his care. He died of pneumonia and meningitis near the end of the war. Shortly before his death on January 28, 1918, he had been appointed consulting physician to the 1st British army, the first Canadian to be so honoured.

He was buried at Wimereux Communal Cemetery, Wimereux, Departement du Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France.^[7][8] There is also a memorial at Essex Farm Cemetery , Ypres (Ieper), Arrondissement Ieper, West Flanders (West-Vlaanderen), Belgium.^[9]

A collection of his poetry,In Flanders Fields and Other Poems, was published in 1919.

• IN FLANDERS FIELDS
• 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.

In 1946 McCrae was designated a Person of National Historic Significance. Several institutions in Canada, a mountain in British Columbia, and the street beside the cemetery where he is buried have been named in his honour. The McCrae family home in Guelph is now a museum. The poppy has become a symbol of remembrance to commemorate servicemen and women killed in armed conflicts.^[10]

Sources

1. ↑ Article by James H. Marsh inThe Canadian Encyclopedia
2. ↑ "Ontario Births, 1869-1912," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FM3N-YXJ : 8 August 2017), John Mccrae, 30 Nov 1872; citing Birth, Guelph, Wellington, Ontario, Canada, citing Archives of Ontario, Toronto; FHL microfilm 1,844,891.
3. ↑ "Canada Census, 1901," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KHPB-YW1 : 18 March 2018), John Mccrae in household of Isabella Nelson, Hochelaga, Quebec, Canada; citing p. 6, Library and Archives of Canada, Ottawa.
4. ↑ "Recensement du Canada de 1911," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVBH-PK43 : 16 March 2018), John Mccrae in entry for Edward W Archabald, 1911; citing Census, Montréal St. Antoine Sub-Districts 1-47, Quebec, Canada, Library and Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario; FHL microfilm 2,418,560.
5. ↑ John F. Prescott,“McCRAE, JOHN,” inDictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 14, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–,accessed November 29, 2017,with Image Gallery.
6. ↑Library and Archives Canada, Personnel Records of the First World War, RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 7202 - 2, 168138
7. ↑ LTC John McCrae (1872-1918) on Find A Grave:Memorial #61699463 retrieved 04 September 2018
8. ↑War Graves Commission
9. ↑ LTC John Alexander McCrae (1872-1918) on Find A Grave:Memorial #5758 retrieved 04 September 2018
10. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "John McCrae," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,(accessedJune 24, 2017).

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