Page:In Flanders Fields - 1921.djvu/11

 singing high in the air between the crash of  the shell and the reports of the guns in the battery just beside us.” * * * *

John McCrae's life was full of interest. His career in his chosen profession was one of honour and distinction. Sir Andrew McPhail tells us that his writings "made his name known in every text book of medicine." He was in active service in South Africa during the Boer War. Enlisting as a private in a Canadian Artillery Unit, he attained the rank of Major. The war ended he returned to his medical career in Canada. From time to time verses of fine quality appeared from his pen; many of them in the Magazine of McGill University. *

At the outbreak of the World War he offered himself once for service and, again joining the artillery unit, went to France with the 1st Artillery Brigade of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Later, somewhat against his will, he was transferred to the Medical Corps, where he gave such service as few could give. In January, 1918, only a few days before his death, he