John McCrae was born November 1872, in Guelph, Ontario. He began writing poetry when a student at college, and had ambitions to join the military. At the age of fourteen he joined the Highfield Cadet Corps and enlisted in a militia field battery three years later.

At sixteen he won a scholarship to the University of Toronto, where he studied for three years, with a break of a year due to severe asthma. He graduated in medicine in 1898. While studying, he wrote poetry and short stories which were published in literary magazines.

When the South African Boer War began in 1899, McCrae felt joined the armed forces and was shocked at the inadequate treatment of the sick and injured soldiers on the battlefield, leading him to resign and cease his involvement with the military for several years.

Returning to his medical career, in 1901, McCrae focused on pathology, working at Montreal General Hospital. After a quick succession of promotions, in 1904, he moved to England, where he studied and became a member of the Royal College of Physicians. In 1905, he set up his own practice while also lecturing in clinical medicine and pathology, attending medical conferences in Europe, and writing for medical journals and textbooks.

At the beginning of World War I, Canada, as a member of the British Empire, became politically involved. McCrae was appointed brigade-surgeon to the First Brigade of the Canadian Field Artillery.

In April 1915, McCrae was stationed at Flanders near Ypres, Belgium, during the Second Battle of Ypres. McCrae’s friend, twenty-two-year-old Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, was killed by artillery fire and buried in a makeshift grave. The following day, McCrae, after seeing the field of makeshift graves blooming with wild poppies, wrote his famous poem “In Flanders Fields". It was published in England’s Punch magazine in December 1915 and was later included in the posthumous collection In Flanders Fields and Other Poems (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1919).

“In Flanders Fields” became popular almost immediately and was translated into other languages and used on billboards advertising Victory Loan Bonds in Canada. The poppy soon became known as the flower of remembrance for those who died in service of their country. Today, McCrae’s poem is part of Remembrance Day services over the world.

Soon after writing “In Flanders Fields,” McCrae was appointed chief of medical services in France. Disillusioned by war, McCrae found consolation in writing. During this time he wrote his final poem, “The Anxious Dead.” In the summer of 1917, McCrae’s health deteriorated, suffering severe asthma attacks and bronchitis. McCrae died of pneumonia and meningitis in January, 1918.