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His birth
John McCrae was born in Guelph, Canada November 13 of 1872. He was son of Lieutenant-Colonel David McCrae and Janet Simpson Eckford McCrae. He had a sister, Geills, and a brother,Tom. The image on the left is a picture of John McCrae, his brother, his sister and his mom. -
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John McCrae's life
John McCrae lived to be 45. He was born November 30th 1872 and past away January 28th of 1918. -
The beggining of his Military life
Even if Mr.McCrae began writing poetry, (and was really good at it), at the Guelph Collegiate Institute, he was also interested in the Military. That is why he joined the Highfield Cadet Corps at 14 and at 17 was part of the Militia field battery commanded by his father. -
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His military life
John McCrae, even if was a talented doctor and poet, was part of the military. -
First graduation
At 16, John McCrae graduated from Guelph Collegiate and was the first student to win a scholarship to the University of Toronto. Unfortunatelly he was effected by a sevire illness called asthma that afflicted him for his hole life. -
University Medicine teacher
John McCrae was also an important University medicine teacher, in fact two of his students became the first women doctors in Ontario. In that same year he recieved a Bachelor of medicine degree and a gold medal from the University of Toronto medical school. -
Dr. Osler
In 1899 John McCrae went to Baltimore where he was asked to work at the Johns Hopkins Hospital where his brother Thomas had been working as resident assistant since 1895. Both McCrae brothers became close associates of doctor William Osler that was pre-eminent medical educator of his time. -
South african war
During the October of 1899 the South african war had started. When this happened John McCrae felt the need to go and fight. In order to serve in South Africa, he requested postponement of a fellowship in pathology that he had been awarded at McGill University in Montréal. In this picture he is in the In the group photo right he is in the front row aboard ship, bound for South Africa. -
Young Doctor
In 1902, he was appointed resident pathologist at Montréal General Hospital and later also became assistant pathologist to the Royal Victoria Hospital. In 1904, he was appointed an associate in medicine at the Royal Victoria Hospital. Later that year, he went to England where he studied for several months and became a member of the Royal College of Physicians. Dr. John McCrae with student doctors at the Alexandria Hospital in Montreal, 1910. -
World War I
During world war I within two weeks 45.000 canadians where sent to fight and John McCrae was one of them. He took with him a horse called Bonfire that had been a present from a friend, and a spaniel called Bonneau. That was what he called his little family. The image on the left is of John, Bonneau and Bonfire -
The Second Battle of the Ypres
In April 1915, John McCrae was in the trenches near Ypres, Belgium, in the area traditionally called Flanders. Some of the heaviest fighting of the First World War took place there during that was known as the Second Battle of Ypres. -
In flanders fields
On May the 3rd of 1915, John McCrae wrote the very famous and powerful poem ''In Flanders Fields''. He wrote this poem the day after one of his best friends, Alexis Helmer, had died during the the Second Battle of Ypres. With this poem he introduced the new simbol of Rememberance Day: the Poppy. Every year people on ''Rememberance Day'' wear a poppy to show that they care and remember. -
His death
John McCrae lived to be 45 and past away on January 28 of 1918 in Boulogne-sur-Mer,France. He died of pneumonia and meningitis (a serius illness), although many, many people went to his funeral that was held on a beautiful spring day. The image on the left is a picture that was taken during his funeral.
