Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae Statue

Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae was the Canadian soldier, doctor and poet who wrote In Flanders Fields during the First World War. Born in Guelph, Ontario in 1872, he served with an artillery battery in the South African War and had a successful civilian medical career. When the First World War broke out in 1914, the patriotic 41-year-old enlisted again and would be appointed brigade-surgeon to the First Brigade of the Canadian Field Artillery.

During the 2^nd Battle of Ypres in the spring of 1915, McCrae was tending to the wounded in a part of Belgium traditionally called Flanders. On May 2, a close friend was killed in action and this painful loss inspired McCrae to write In Flanders Fields the next day. It would be published in Britain’s Punch magazine and quickly became one of the best-known poems of the war, helping make the poppy an international symbol of remembrance. Sadly, Lieutenant-Colonel McCrae would not survive the conflict, dying of illness in January 1918.

The Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae Statue in Ottawa features a large likeness of McCrae in the uniform of an artillery officer, with his medical bag at his feet and poppies growing nearby amidst the destruction of a battlefield. Designed by Canadian artist Ruth Abernethy, it was erected by the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery in collaboration with the Royal Canadian Medical Service. This beautiful monument stands beside the National Artillery Memorial and was unveiled on May 3, 2015 – the 100^th anniversary of the writing of his renowned poem.

Directions

The statue is accessible via Sussex Drive and is located on Green Island, in front of the old Ottawa City Hall (John G. Diefenbaker Building).