The Death of John McCrae
When I started to think about my next post, I was thinking I would talk about an Island nurse who served in the First World War. As I started reading, I came across a story about an Island nurse who worked with Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae.
This story spoke about how an Island nurse was his nurse when he died. This made me realize, I knew McCrae died in the First World War, but I didn't know how or where.
Who was John McCrae
John McCrae was born on November 30, 1872 in Guelph, Ontario. At the age of 14, he joined the Highfield Cadet Corps, then at the age of 17, he enlisted in the Militia field battery. Which was commanded by his father.
He graduated from Guelph Collegiate at 16 and planned to attend the University of Toronto on scholarship, the first Guelph student to do so. He attended for three years but had to take a year off due to severe asthma.
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| John McCrae. Source: Veterans Affairs Canada |
He graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts in 1894. He then attended the University of Toronto's medical school.
The South African War
The South African War began in October 1899. McCrae enlisted and postponed his fellowship in pathology at McGill University in Montreal. He led Guelph's artillery battery.
In South Africa, he was shocked by the poor treatment sick and wounded soldiers received. In 1904, McCrae resigned from the 1st Brigade of Artillery at the rank of Major. He did not re-enlist in the military until 1914.
Second Battle of Ypres
When the First World War began, McCrae was among many Canadians who rushed to enlist. While McCrae admitted he was afraid to go to war, he was more afraid to remain at home with his conscious. In April 1915, he was in Ypres.
According to the Canadian War Museum:
The Canadian Division’s trial-by-fire at Ypres earned the Canadians a reputation as tough and dependable troops, but they had paid a high price: some 6,000 casualties over the four-day battle.
One of the reason's the Second Battle of Ypres had such high casualties were the chlorine gas attacks.
The first gas attack, on April 22, was aimed at the French 45th (Algerian) Division (France) positioned to the Canadians' left. The poisonous cloud covered several kilometres and when it covered the French lines and the troops suffocated or fled. This left a large gap to the Canadians' left.
Most of this attack missed Canadian troops but they couldn't leave a large gap in their defense. Therefore, General Alderson's units moved to cover the several kilometres wide gap in the Allied defense.
This left Canadian soldiers outnumbered, outgunned, and outflanked. Then, on April 24th, the Germans sent a chlorine gas attack directly at the Canadians. These men were able to hold the Germans off until additional British troops arrived.
It was after this battle, McCrae wrote In Flanders Fields.
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders Fields spoke to the harshness of the First World War and the number of soldiers dying -
In Flanders fields the poppies blowBetween the crosses, row on row,That mark our place; and in the skyThe larks, still bravely singing, flyScarce heard amid the guns below.We are the Dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,Loved and were loved, and now we lie,In Flanders fields.Take up our quarrel with the foe:To you from failing hands we throwThe torch; be yours to hold it high.If ye break faith with us who dieWe shall not sleep, though poppies growIn Flanders fields.
McCrae wrote the poem the day after his friend, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, was killed during the Second Battle of Ypres. Like many, Helmer was buried in a makeshift grave that was quickly covered in blooming wild poppies.
Transfer to the McGill Unit
After the Second Battle of Ypres, McCrae was transferred from the 1st Artillery Brigade CFA to the McGill Unit as the Medical Officer. This unit was Lieutenant Colonel Birkett's "elite McGill University unit." McCrae opposed the transfer as he wanted to be on the front lines.
Many of the nurses were familiar with McCrae as he had been a professor at McGill University before the war and often gave lectures for students at McGill University and the Royal Victoria Hospital Training School of Nursing in Montreal.
This, and McCrae's personality, led to a comradery between McCrae and the nurses.
January 1918
On January 23, 1918, Colonel Elder, the Officer Commanding of the McGill Unit, went looking for McCrae to give him news. McCrae's appointment to the position of Consulting Physician to the First British Army was confirmed. As a close friend of McCrae, Elder was looking forward to sharing this news as McCrae would be the first Canadian physician to hold this position. McCrae was also being promoted to Colonel.
Elder found McCrae in the officers' mess, slumped down in a chair, asleep. When woken up, McCrae was not feeling well and had a slight headache. McCrae was told to take the rest of the day to rest.
McCrae was feeling slightly better the next morning but confided in Elder he thought he may be developing pneumonia. McCrae was already not in optimal shape because of severe asthma and fatigue. McCrae's lungs also would have been affected by the chlorine gas attack at the Second Battle of Ypres.
Elder ordered Nursing Sisters Lillian Pidgeon and Mary Bliss to act as McCrae's day and night nurses. It isn't known if they were chosen because of their skills or if McCrae requested them specifically. McCrae was transferred to No. 14 British General Hospital in Wimereux. Pidgeon and Bliss went with him.
At Wimereux, McCrae did start to feel better. Unfortunately, this was not permanent. Merely a final rally before the end.
McCrae started to show signs of cerebral irritation - a weak pulse and drop in body temperature. He became very sleepy and went into a coma.
In the early hours of January 28, 1918, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae died of bilateral pneumonia and meningitis.
McCrae was given a large military funeral, seventy nurses were given permission to attend. The Nursing Sisters put together a pillow of purple violets, signifying love, spiritual wisdom, and faithfulness. In a religious sense, purple also signified death and resurrection.
Elder also attended the funeral. During the funeral, he used his hat to hide his tears.
McCrae's death was so sudden, many Nursing Sisters wished they had a chance to say goodbye. Nursing Sister Isobel Davis wrote about leaving his gravesite, "It seemed so unkind to come away and leave him there."
Dewar, Katherine. Those Splendid Girls: The Heroic Service of Prince Edward Island Nurses in the Great War, 1914-1918. Charlottetown: Island Studies Press, 2014.
"John McCrae." Veterans Affairs Canada. https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/people-and-stories/john-mccrae
"Second Ypres." Canadian War Museum. https://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/battles-and-fighting/land-battles/second-ypres/
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