On today’s date in 1918, First World War Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, an army physician from Guelph, Ont., and commandant of No. 3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill), died after a five-day bout with pneumonia.
McCrae is best known as the author of the famous First World War poem, In Flanders Fields.
His body is buried at Wimereaux Cemetery in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.
On Oct. 27, 2008 – the eve of Remembrance Day commemorations and the 90th anniversary of the First World War armistice – the Royal Canadian Mint issued a coloured circulation coin featuring the iconic red poppy, Canada’s flower of remembrance.