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By Tony Saxon Metroland Media Group A book about Lt.-Col. John McCrae published last year, tells the Guelph native's story in a very unique way. Bonfire - The Chestnut Gentleman tells the story of McCrae's experiences in the First World War through the perspective of his horse Bonfire. Susan Raby-Dunne spent six years researching the book, which was originally intended as a screenplay. Raby-Dunne, an Albertabased author and First World War enthusiast, said she "couldn't believe how little people knew about the man behind the poem." She remembers asking people about wearing the poppy on Remembrance Day and about the poem In Flanders Fields and was amazed how many people didn't even know who wrote it. McCrae's life - straight from his horse's mouth "I just thought the story needed to be told." She described the book as historical fiction, or creative non-fiction, "like a movie based on fact, " she said. It includes some explanations in an epilogue and roughly 25 photos, including a previously undiscovered picture she found combing through some archives of a friend of McCrae's. "The history of the poem got me interested initially, but once I started studying him I found him to be really fascinating. He was a very complex, conflicted, brilliant overachiever, " she said of McCrae. "He was one of the best physicians of his day, but his first passion was for soldiering, which I found really interesting, how he reconciled that. "Especially in World War I, where he had to treat all the terrible carnage that artillery inflicted on people, " she said. Lest we forget 17 | Friday, November 8, 2013 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com The big question isn't really about the and not pressed back into service after Mcchoice of McCrae as the subject for a book, Crae died. but the decision to have his horse be the "There were about three or four different narrator. accounts about what happened to the horse "Telling it through the perspective of the and some day I'm going to find out, because horse helped tell the story in a simple, ac- somebody knows, " she said. cessible way, " Raby-Dunne said. "You can overwhelm people with facts and figures when you're writing about history, " she said. "Doing it this way, I had to really make If you have a loved one that was a it simple so that it could be accesveteran and is resting at Glen Oaks sible to young and old." Memorial Gardens please call us to Having the story told by a horse also helped her as a writer to keep have a flag placed on their grave at focused and simple, sticking to no charge. the essence of the McCrae story. She hasn't been able to find out It is our way of saying thank you. what happened to Bonfire but is intent on finding out. McCrae died of pneumonia in Glen Oaks Memorial Gardens France near the end of the war. & Reception Centre Bonfire was to be returned to the by Arbor Memorial Quebec family that gave him to 403 & Dundas St., Miss./Oakville McCrae but never returned from France. 905-257-1100 Raby-Dunne said she believes Arbor Memorial Inc. he was retired to a farm in France In honour of our veterans Lest we forget To you... we salute, respect and honor A son, brother, uncle and father Thank you for your sacrifice Lest We Forget We love you and miss you every day All of your loving family While serving his country in Afghanistan, Warrant Officer Dennis Raymond Brown was killed at age 38 by a roadside bomb on March 3, 2009