Lest we forget

Date: Nov. 11, 1999
Time: 8:57 am

by Lieut.-Col. John McCrae

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.

— Dr. John McCrae, a physician from Guelph, Ont., and a member of the Canadian Corps during WW I, died in France on Jan. 28, 1918, after 4 years' service on the Western Front.

Dr. John McCrae: The Young Doctor

In 1902, McCrae became resident pathologist at the Montreal General Hospital and later assistant pathologist to the Royal Victoria Hospital. In 1904 he was appointed an associate in medicine at the Royal Vic. Later that year he went to England, where he studied for several months and became a member of the Royal College of Physicians.

He set up his own practice in 1905 but continued to work and lecture at several hospitals. He was appointed pathologist to the Montreal Foundling and Baby Hospital in 1905. In 1908, he was appointed physician to the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Infectious Diseases.

He also lectured in pathology at the University of Vermont Medical College in Burlington and in clinical medicine and pathology at McGill during these years.

Both John McCrae was a major contributor's to Osler's Modern Medicine, a 10-volume textbook published in 1909. McCrae also coauthored a textbook on pathology that was published in 1912.

He was a respected teacher and doctor, much in demand due to his enthusiasm and sense of responsibility to his patients, students and colleagues. He was a gregarious man with many friends.

An avid outdoorsman, John McCrae was invited in 1910 to serve as expedition physician when the Governor General, Lord Grey, journeyed by canoe from Norway House on Lake Winnipeg to Hudson's Bay.

McCrae continued to write poetry and was a member of the Shakespearean Club and the Pen and Pencil Club, a group of artists, writers and teachers that also included Stephen Leacock.

As well as expressing himself in words, John McCrae also did small, detailed pencil sketches of scenes on his trips, mostly in South Africa, the US and Scotland.

Source: Veterans Affairs Canada

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