Who was Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae?

Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae was a Canadian soldier and physician who wrote the famous First World War poem "In Flanders Fields." Discover Canada includes both his rank/name and the poem in its sections on Canada's wartime contribution.

The poem "In Flanders Fields" is one of the most famous English-language poems of the First World War and is closely associated with Remembrance Day. The reference to poppies in the poem is the origin of the symbolic poppy worn in Canada and other Commonwealth countries on November 11.

McCrae stands alongside other Canadian wartime figures highlighted by Discover Canada, including Lieutenant-Colonel Charles de Salaberry who, with 460 mostly French-Canadian soldiers, won a key battle in 1813.

John McCrae's poem turned Canadian wartime experience into a globally recognized symbol of remembrance. Discover Canada uses McCrae and "In Flanders Fields" as part of Canada's identity around Remembrance Day, military sacrifice, and First World War commemoration.

The poem also gave the world the symbolic image of the poppy as a sign of remembrance — a tradition that began in Canada.