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Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Ross Macaulay MacKenzie

In memory of:

Lieutenant Ross Macaulay MacKenzie

October 28, 1917

Military Service


Age:

26

Force:

Army

Unit:

Canadian Infantry (Nova Scotia Regiment)

Division:

85th Bn.

Additional Information


Born:

December 29, 1890
Baddeck, Nova Scotia

Enlistment:

October 10, 1916
Aldershot, Nova Scotia

Son of Murdoch H. and Maud (nee Dunlop) MacKenzie of Baddeck, Nova Scotia.

Commemorated on Page 285 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 26 - 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

Send us your images

  • Inscription– Photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
  • Newspaper clipping– From the Regina Morning Leader c.1916. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Photo of Ross Macaulay Mackenzie– KIA at Passchendaele, October 28, 1917.
Image cropped from a vintage outdoor group portrait of original officers of the 85th Battalion, CEF, circa October 1916-February 1917.
  • Attestation Papers– Source Library and Archives Canada.
  • Newspaper Clipping– In honoured memory.
  • Memorial Image– In memory of the officers of the 85th Overseas Battalion Nova Scotia Highlanders who gave their lives during World War 1.

Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me.
  • Crest– In memory of the officers of the 85th Overseas Battalion Nova Scotia Highlanders who gave their lives during World War 1.

Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me.
  • War Diary– War Diary
The entry in Appendix A of the 85th Battalion war diary
describes the advance in which Captain MacKenzie lost his life while
leading his men.
  • Inscription– Menin Gate Memorial Panel

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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