John McCrae (1872-1918): doctor-soldier-poet.

Abstract

Out of the ruins of World War I arose the poignant verse of the "Trench Poets." Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, Canadian doctor, professor, and soldier, exemplified this verse in his haunting poem "In Flanders Fields." After establishing himself as a respected physician and university lecturer in Canada and the United States, he served in World War I as a physician and artillery commander. In 1918, after a grueling tour of duty, McCrae witnessed one of the Great War's most horrific technological creations: chemical warfare. He suffered from asthma and probable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease all his life, dying at age 45 of cerebral meningitis.