Bonfire : the chestnut gentleman

Description

pp. vii 150. “Every Commonwealth citizen knows of the WWI poem, In Flanders Fields. But what do we really know about its author, Canadian soldier/physician/poet, John McCrae? How much do we know of the actual events leading to the writing of one of the most famous war poems ever written? Why do we wear a red poppy in November? ‘Bonfire – The Chestnut Gentleman’ is a moving, intimate and unforgettable look at the writer of the indelible poem and his world within the war that shaped our nation. The partnership between Major John McCrae and the aristocratic red thoroughbred, Bonfire, begins when the horse is given to him as a gift by a McGill University medical colleague on the eve of war. Neither man nor horse knew it yet, but their partnership would be tested time and again as WWI unfolded.
Bonfire was a character who removed caps, doled out waffly kisses and would carry a swagger stick for a quarter of a mile. He was also a steady and loyal mount who proved to be nothing less than a lifeline for John McCrae; a precious connection to beauty and decency in an ugly world gone mad with war. Bonfire has almost seven years of research behind it as Susan Raby-Dunne followed John McCrae’s footsteps from his birthplace in Guelph, ON to Salisbury Plain, England and the fields of Flanders in France and Belgium.”