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On Sunday, Canada stood up Lt.-Col. John McCrae, the author of In Flanders Fields.

At least that’s the opinion of one observer who attended a ceremony in France to mark the 100th anniversary of McCrae’s death from pneumonia.

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The ceremony took place at the town of Wimereux, home to the military cemetery where McCrae is buried.

Canada sent no one, though Veterans Affairs Canada says it laid a wreath and poppies at the new Vimy Education Centre, the scene of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

McCrae, an army doctor, is this country’s most famous soldier from the First World War.

On the cold, windy afternoon in northern France, about two dozen visitors stood as a French band played O Canada, and the French town supplied a Canadian flag. French veterans stood with their banners.

The town council of Wimereux laid a wreath. So did the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. So did one visitor from Britain.

Genevra Charsley, the British woman who brought her own poppy wreath to lay, said she’s upset at Canada’s absence. She said she asked Veterans Affairs last year whether it was planning a 100th anniversary event, as it is responsible for ceremonies at battlefields and other historic military sites in France.