Colonel Lawrence Vincent Moore Cosgrave, (August 28, 1890 – July 28, 1971) was a Canadian soldier and diplomat. He was the Canadian signatory to the Japanese Instrument of Surrender at the end of World War II. Early life Cosgrave was born in Toronto, Ontario, on August 28, 1890. Cosgrave was the son of Lawrence J., founder of Cosgrave & Sons Brewery Company, and brother of James, a partner with E. P. Taylor in horse racing's Cosgrave Stables. Lawrence was a 1912 graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada, student # 851 and subsequently attended McGill University. Service in WW I In World War I he served as an artillery officer in the Canadian Field Artillery in France. Cosgrave was twice awarded the Distinguished Service Order first in 1916 and again in 1918 for "conspicuous gallantry in action". He fought at the Second Battle of Ypres and was wounded and blinded in one eye. Later, Cosgrave was presented with the French Croix de Guerre. Cosgrave stated that his friend Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae wrote the poem "In Flanders Fields" in 20 minutes on a scrap of paper resting on Cosgrave's shoulder during a lull in the bombings on May 3, 1915, the day after McCrae had witnessed the death of his friend, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer. The poem was first published on December 8 that year in the London-based magazine Punch. Cosgrave unveiled the Colonel John McCrae Memorial, at Boezinge, Ypres, West Flanders, on October 5, 1963. Cosgrave wrote the book "Afterthoughts of Armageddon" ((Toronto: S.B. Gundy, 1919) about his experiences during World War I, dedicated to "the million dead". One article describes the book "as an account of the emotions Cosgrave and his comrades experienced in the years of grinding horror, poison gas and trench warfare". It was published by his wife Beryl (née Hunter Jones). Subsequent services to Canada Between the wars Cosgrave served with the Trade and Commerce Department. He was the Assistant Canadian Government Trade Commissioner in London from 1922 to 1924; Canadian Trade Commissioner at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Park in 1924; at Shanghai from 1925 to 1935; at Melbourne from 1935 to 1937; and at Sydney from 1937 to 1942. During World War II Cosgrave was the Canadian Military Attache to Australia, for the South West Pacific Area. On September 2, 1945 he was the Canadian representative at the official surrender of Japan,