(13 June 1892- 2 Feb. 1917), airman, remembered as one of the victims of the German air ace, Manfred von Richthofen, the celebrated Red Baron. (Lt McRae; D. J. McRae) McRae was born and spent his early years at Ste-Anne-de-Prescott, which is just east of GC (SE of Dalkeith). Parents: Andrew McRae and his wife Flora Bethune. The school attendance roll shows that he was a pupil in 1907 at the Glen Andrew public school, which was in Prescott County, between Ste-Anne-de-Prescott and Glen Andrew. When young, he was employed in Alexandria by the merchant firm John Simpson and Son, leaving Alexandria, aged 19, in the fall of 1911 to take a business course in Ottawa. (Glengarry News 6 Oct. 1911) In Ottawa, prior to enlisting in WWI, he worked for the Imperial Bank of Canada, a predecessor of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. He was interested in the militia, serving in the 59th in Alexandria and in Ottawa units.

     Overseas in the war, he served in the 77th and 50th battalions, before being transferred on 19 Dec. 1916 to the RFC (the Royal Flying Corps, the predecessor of the RAF), where he was posted to the 16th Squadron. At the end of his life he had the rank of lieutenant. The plane in which he was acting as observer was attacked 1 Feb. 1917 in the vicinity of Vimy Ridge by Richthofen. McRae survived the bullets and the crash of the plane, though injured, and was taken prisoner by the Germans. The shot-down plane itself was destroyed (presumably for security purposes) by Canadian artillery as it lay on the ground, the standard rule followed being that the crew were to be allotted 20 minutes to escape from it. McRae’s period as a prisoner of war was short, for he died the following day from his injuries (as did the plane’s pilot, its only other occupant). It appears to have been on that day, also, that Lt McRae was officially reported as missing in action (2 Feb. 1917). He has a gravestone at the Bois-Carre British Cemetery, a war cemetery at Thélus, France (near Arras). Identification of the body buried there was apparently uncertain, for his name on the gravestone is preceded by the words, “Believed to Be,” used also for some other gravestones in this cemetery. His name appears among those of other servicemen on the war plaque (memorial plaque) in the East Hawkesbury United Church, Ste. Anne de Prescott. He is identified on the plaque as a member of the 16th Squadron, RFC. His name was omitted from the GC war memorial at Alexandria when it was dedicated in the 1920s. However, when WWII names were added later, his was included among them with an explanatory note, the wording being thus “Duncan J. McRae War I.” Lt McRae was evidently unmarried. About the time of his war service, his parents were living in Hamilton, Ont.

     The Glengarry News of 14 March 1984 printed a long, interesting letter–more an article than a letter–by William T. Evans (Bill Evans) of Cleveland, Ohio, a collector of historic signatures and other items connected with the Red Baron, who asked to be put in touch with the family of Lt McRae. Evans noted that McRae’s mother was said to be from Ste-Anne-de-Prescott. He gave the lieutenant’s name as D. J. McRae, while noting that it was also sometimes, though he believed incorrectly, given as T. D. McRae. Evans had been influenced by the life of the Red Baron written by Floyd Gibbons (1887-1939). Gibbons, who was one of the principal architects of the Red Baron’s reputation in the English speaking world, was a traditional “tough” American journalist of the kind represented in comic strips and movies. Part of Evans’ project was getting people associated in one way or another with the Red Baron to annotate a copy of the Gibbons book. Evans, whose career was in banking, and who deserves the credit for bringing the Red Baron aspect of Lt McRae’s tragedy to the attention of the GC public, was born 19 Feb. 1915 in Lykens, Penn., and died of cancer, unmarried, 5 Oct. 1996, at Cleveland, Ohio. Part of Evans’ historical collection was acquired by the very well-known Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon, England, but it did not include the abovementioned annotated copy of the Gibbons book, the whereabouts of which is at present unknown.

     The Gibbons book prints the text of a translation of the letter in which, on 1 Feb. 1917, Richthofen claimed from his military superiors recognition of the destruction of this plane and its occupants as his 19th victory.

     The Ella MacRae-Gilstrap book on MacRae clan service in World War I, which lists the present Duncan John McRae, naming for his place of origin Ste. Anne de Prescott, also lists (p. 51) a Robert William McRae, also of Ste-Anne-de-Prescott, who was killed in action on 17 Sept. 1916. The men may have been brothers.

Glengarry News 9 Feb. 1917 * Ella MacRae-Gilstrap, The Clan MacRae with Its Rolls of Honour and of Service in the Great War (Aberdeen, 1923) 30, 51 (no portrait) * MacMaster 317-326 on Glen Andrew School * private information * Floyd Gibbons, The Red Knight of Germany: Baron von Richthofen Germany’s Great War Airman (11th edn., London, 1936) 126-127, 396; this is the volume that Evans mentions in his letter; there are biogs. of Gibbons in S. J. Kunitz and H. Haycraft, Twentieth Century Authors (1966) and ANB * Peter Kilduff, The Red Baron: beyond the Legend (1994) 72, 224 * Norman Franks, Hal Giblin, and N. McCrery, Under the Guns of the Red Baron: the Complete Record of Von Richthofen’s Victories and Victims Fully Illustrated (2000) 59-60 (with portrait) * information kindly supplied by the Directorate of History at National Defence Headquarters, Ottawa, and by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission * S. F. Wise, Canadian Airmen and the First World War: the Official History of the Royal Canadian Air Force, I (1980), 402 * William T. Evans: Ohio death certificate * letter by present author, summarizing career of Lt McRae, GN 30 Oct. 2002