McCrae's war medals stay in Canada
CMAJ 1997;157:1501
© 1997 Canadian Medical Association
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An Alberta physician was among scores of Canadians who became actively involved in attempts to keep the wartime service medals of one of Canada's most famous physicians in Canada. The medals of Dr. John McCrae, the Guelph, Ont., physician who penned In Flanders Fields in 1915, are staying here following an October bidding war that surprised buyers and seller alike. The medals are now stored safely in a Canadian museum thanks to the "unprecedented generosity" of Toronto clothing manufacturer Arthur Lee, who paid $400 000 for medals that had been expected to fetch $20 000 to $30 000. He promptly donated them to McCrae House in Guelph. McCrae's poem, the most famous written by a Canadian, is still heard every year as Remembrance Day approaches.
Among those leading the fight to keep the medals here was Dr. Mark Brown of High Level, Alta., who arranged for the Bank of Montreal to take donations to support the purchase. Dr. Robert Burns, executive director of the Alberta Medical Association, said Brown's activities also stirred the AMA to action. He said the AMA was prepared to make a substantial donation to the cause because of fears that McCrae's 4 medals from the Boer War and World War I would be sold either to a private collector or foreign buyer.
"I'm glad we had Mr. Lee," said Burns. "My thoughts on hearing that a first-generation Canadian — hell, any Canadian — would display such generosity of spirit were actually mixtures of amazement, awe, relief and not a little unease that I, a first-generation Canadian born in England, might not have demonstrated such philanthropy — even if I had the wherewithal! I'm glad we had Mr. Lee."
Lee said he bought them as a patriotic gesture. "They will stay in Canada as long as Canada exists," he said. McCrae, a surgeon, died of pneumonia Jan. 28, 1918.
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