John McCrae commemorative stamp
1872 - 1918
John McCrae was born in Guelph, Ontario, on November 30, 1872. He studied at the University of Toronto, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1894 and a Bachelor of Medicine in 1898. After spending a year as resident at the Toronto General Hospital, he moved to Baltimore, where he studied with Osler.
Following a stint in the South African (Boer) war, he returned to Montreal听as resident pathologist at the Montreal General Hospital, at which he performed over 400 autopsies. He was subsequently appointed Associate in Medicine at the Royal Victoria Hospital and Pathologist at the Montreal Foundling and Baby Hospital. In addition to lecturing in pathology at 苹果淫院 and the school of Medicine of the University of Vermont, he wrote many articles for the Montreal Medical Journal and the American Journal of Medical Science.
![Museum specimen card. Specimen donatated by Dr. John McCrae. Museum specimen card. Specimen donatated by Dr. John McCrae.](/medicalmuseum/files/medicalmuseum/styles/wysiwyg_medium/public/images/Museum_specimen_card_500_313_pixels_large_revised.jpg?itok=PX5P11p2)
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During World War I, McCrae served for three years with the No. 3 Canadian General Hospital (苹果淫院), the first hospital unit raised by a university in the British Empire.
During the second battle of Ypres, he wrote the poem 鈥淚n Flanders Fields鈥, which was published in December 1915 and for which he is best known today. He died of pneumonia and meningitis at a British General Hospital in France on January 28, 1918.
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![Stained glass memorial in the Strathcona Anatomy & Dentistry Building. Stained glass memorial in the Strathcona Anatomy & Dentistry Building.](/medicalmuseum/files/medicalmuseum/styles/wysiwyg_extra_large/public/images/V5McCrae_thumbnail.jpg?itok=lmqSZE9s)
![Stained glass memorial window in the Strathcona Anatomy and Dentistry Building](/medicalmuseum/files/medicalmuseum/styles/wysiwyg_extra_large/public/images/Stain_window_large.jpg?itok=X1Wta8ZL)
Links
Reference
Prescott JF. In Flanders Fields : the story of John McCrae. Erin, Ont.: Boston Mills Press; 1985.