Source: Letter for reunion of 18th Bn. officers. See Lt. Krug page. Joined Battalion November 20, 1917 at Villers Camp.
Military Cross
“Col. J. Norman MacRae was born in Blair in 1883, a son of Samuel MacRae. He came to Galt at the age of four and was educated at Central Public School and at Galt Collegiate Institute. He worked for two years in Winnipeg as the private secretary for the general freight agent of the Canadian Pacific Railway in Winnipeg. While in the west he contracted a disease that left him paralyzed for some time. Upon recovery he decided to become an osteopath and entered Kirksville College at Kirksville, Missouri. He returned to Galt in about 1906 to establish a practice which he was to operate until his death in 1953. During the early days of World War I, Dr. MacRae enlisted with the 34th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, and served in France with the 18th Battalion. He was awarded the Military Cross by King George V for destroying enemy machine guns in the face of heavy fire. Following the war he served a term as the commanding officer of the Highland Light Infantry of Canada and was promoted to the rank of Colonel when he was placed in command of the second infantry brigade. Dr. MacRae served as president of the Canadian Kennel Club, the South Waterloo Agricultural Society, the Galt Humane Society and the Galt Kiwanis Club. He was also a director of the Canadian National Livestock Records and of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. In addition, he served for many years on both the Galt Board of Health and the Galt Hospital Board. He was a member of Galt city council from 1938 to 1946 and was the Conservative Party candidate in the provincial election of 1946. He died on January 30, 1953 and is buried in Mount View Cemetery.”
As battalion intelligence officer he displayed great gallantry and initiative. He repeatedly went forward under heavy fire in front of the advancing line to reach good points of observation, and the information he sent back was of the greatest assistance to his commanding officer.
History of the 18th Battalion CEF, "The Fighting Eighteenth" 