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Canadian Virtual War Memorial

John McWilliams

In memory of:

Private John McWilliams

April 7, 1916

Military Service


Service Number:

446223

Force:

Army

Unit:

Canadian Infantry (Alberta Regiment)

Division:

31st Bn.

Additional Information


Born:

February 2, 1874

Commemorated on Page 131 of the First World War Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.

Burial Information


Cemetery:
Grave Reference:

Panel 24 - 28 - 30

Location:


The Menin Gate Memorial is situated at the eastern side of the town of Ypres (now Ieper) in the Province of West Flanders, on the road to Menin and Courtrai. It bears the names of 55,000 men who were lost without trace during the defence of the Ypres Salient in the First World War. Designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield and erected by the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission, it consists of a Hall of Memory", 36.6 metres long by 20.1 metres wide. In the centre are broad staircases leading to the ramparts which overlook the moat, and to pillared loggias which run the whole length of the structure. On the inner walls of the Hall, on the side of the staircases and on the walls of the loggias, panels of Portland stone bear the names of the dead, inscribed by regiment and corps. Carved in stone above the central arch are the words:


TO THE ARMIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE WHO STOOD HERE FROM 1914 TO 1918 AND TO THOSE OF THEIR DEAD WHO HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVE.

Over the two staircases leading from the main Hall is the inscription:

HERE ARE RECORDED NAMES OF OFFICERS AND MEN WHO FELL IN YPRES SALIENT BUT TO WHOM THE FORTUNE OF WAR DENIED THE KNOWN AND HONOURED BURIAL GIVEN TO THEIR COMRADES IN DEATH.

The dead are remembered to this day in a simple ceremony that takes place every evening at 8:00 p.m. All traffic through the gateway in either direction is halted, and two buglers (on special occasions four) move to the centre of the Hall and sound the Last Post. Two silver trumpets for use in the ceremony are a gift to the Ypres Last Post Committee by an officer of the Royal Canadian Artillery, who served with the 10th Battery, of St. Catharines, Ontario, in Ypres in April 1915."

Information courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Digital Collection

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  • Memorial– Inscription on the Menin Gate … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
  • Merrickville Remembers– This project was sponsored jointly by the Canadian Legion Branch 245 and the Merrickville District Community Health Centre.  Serving on the Committee were Jack Jessop, Past President of Legion Branch 245;  Joyce McKay, who lost a brother in the Second World War;  Peter McKenna, Executive Director of Merrickville and District Community Health Centre;  and Jack Wilcox, who upon discharge from the Canadian Army in 1945, prepared the Sydney Academy Memorial Booklet honouring the students of the Academy who gave their lives in the Second World War.
  • Memorial Page– John McWilliams is honoured on page 20 of the Merrickville Remembers booklet, published in January 2003.

Learn more about the Canadian Virtual War Memorial

To learn more please visit our help page. If you have questions or comments regarding the information contained in this registry, email or call us. For inquiries regarding the names and information found in the RCMP Honour Roll, please email the RCMP.

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