Second World War Colonel Lawrence Vincent Moore Cosgrave, DSO & Bar (August 28, 1890 – July 28, 1971) was a Canadian soldier, author, diplomat and trade commissioner.

[5] His first DSO citation noted that he:[2] carried out several reconnaissances under very heavy fire, and explored the enemy's wire in daylight, displaying the greatest courage and ability throughout.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 back.

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".

[6] Cosgrave ended the book with his thoughts when he heard children singing "Silent Night" in occupied Germany, the Christmas after the Armistice of 1918.

[8] He was the de facto ambassador, chief Canadian presence in China and an important figure in early Canada-China relations[9] (Canada would not establish embassies until the 1940s).

He made contacts with top ministers of the Nationalist regime in Nanjing,[9] reorganized the trade office and "promoted Canadian prestige through a vast social and business network"[10] in the Shanghai international community.

[10] The North China Daily News drew a caricature of him and wrote:[10] If you haven't heard of Cosgrove [sic] on Canada you have missed coming under the influence of those men who, when they talk about their country and its ambitions, make you wish you had been born in their home town - or could go to it.On April 29, 1932, during a celebration for the birthday of Emperor Hirohito in Shanghai, a Korean independence activist threw a bomb that killed or wounded several Japanese officials.

Cosgrave, a bystander, came to the assistance and possibly saved the life of Mamoru Shigemitsu, who would become the Japanese Foreign Minister at the end of World War II.

[11] Amid growing safety concerns in Shanghai due to political instability and conflict, along with the city's muggy weather, hectic living conditions, dirty streets, and artificial social life, Cosgrave requested reassignment and was transferred to Melbourne in 1934.

[13][14] Air Vice-Marshal Leonard Monk Isitt, the Dominion of New Zealand representative, left without a blank to sign, had to have his name and country written in at the bottom margin of the document.

[12][16] Cosgrave knew Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu, who signed the instrument of surrender on behalf of the Japanese Emperor and Government, from their diplomatic days in Shanghai.

[15] Decades after Cosgrave's death, social media of the Canadian armed forces, posted a series of tweets in September 2020, emphasizing the importance of his military career.