Remembering the Fallen Soldier: John McCrae on Flanders Fields

The name John McCrae is not one instantly recognized in the annals of medical history. Although a friend and colleague of such giants as William Osler and Harvey Cushing, McCrae’s contribution to history is the mournful poem In Flanders Field, which he wrote on a World War I battlefield during a brief respite from caring for his wounded and dying comrades.

Born on November 30, 1872, in the town of Guelph, Canada, John Alexander McCrae was destined to serve in the military. Descending from Highland Scots, the McCrae family had a proud tradition of serving in the army. He joined a corps of cadets during high school and by age 15 years served as the bugler for his father’s artillery unit in the Canadian militia. After high school, McCrae obtained a scholarship to the University of Toronto and graduated with a biology degree in 1894. Although plagued by severe asthma attacks throughout his life, McCrae served as an officer in the Canadian militia while in college and subsequently received a commission in the field artillery.(1)

Deciding on a career in medicine, McCrae graduated first in his class at the University of Toronto Medical School in 1898. He completed internship at Toronto General Hospital and then left Canada to serve as a Resident House Officer under William Osler at Johns Hopkins. Although awarded a pathology fellowship at McGill University in 1900, he instead left training to serve his native Canada in the intervening Boer War. McCrae finished his military service in 1901 and returned to Canada, where he completed fellowship and was named Pathologist for Montreal General Hospital.

McCrae’s driving interests in military service and science were tempered by a fondness for writing poetry.

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— Mathew W. Lively, DO, Richard D. Layne, MD

This article originally appeared in the January 2013 issue of The American Journal of Medicine.