McGee, Private Murray McNeil

Service highlights

  • Service number: A107701
  • Rank: Private
  • Born: 15 July 1919 in East Nissouri Township
  • Home and work: Attended school in Lakeside, then worked on the home farm at Lot 19, Concession 12
  • Enlisted: 13 August 1943 in the Canadian Active Service Force at London
  • Training:
    • 12 Canadian Army Basic Training Centre, Chatham, 3 September to 12 November 1943
    • A29 Canadian Infantry Corps Training Centre at Camp Ipperwash, 12 November 1943 to end of January 1944
  • Overseas: Sailed to England 15 February 1944
  • Reinforcements: 3 Canadian Infantry Reinforcement Unit, then 2 CIRU
  • Unit in action: A Company, The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s), 3rd Canadian Infantry Division
  • Arrived in France: 6 July 1944, sent forward almost immediately near Carpiquet
  • Wounded: 8 July 1944, upper leg wound in fighting near Cussy
  • Died: 8 July 1944 at 16 Casualty Clearing Station, likely from shock and loss of blood
  • Burial: Hermanville War Cemetery
  • Family: Predeceased by parents Thomas Robinson McGee and Olive Gregory. Survived by a brother, David, and two sisters, Julia McCorquodale of Embro and Dorothy
  • Memorial service: Chalmers United Church, Kintore, 24 September 1944
  • Commemorated: At the Cenotaphs in Kintore, the World War II plaque at St. Marys Town Hall & The St. Marys Legion Banner program

A Life and Service Remembered

Murray McNeil McGee was born on 15 July 1919 in East Nissouri Township. He went to school in Lakeside and then worked on the family farm at Lot 19, Concession 12. It is the kind of upbringing rooted in steadiness and responsibility, the early mornings, the long seasons, and the quiet pride of being needed.

He was called into service in the summer of 1943 and enlisted in London on 13 August. That fall he trained in Chatham and then at Camp Ipperwash. In February 1944 he sailed overseas to England. Like many reinforcements, his time there was brief and uncertain, waiting, training, and then moving again when the moment came.

Murray reached France on 6 July 1944, only a month after D Day, and he was sent forward almost immediately to A Company of the Canadian Scottish Regiment, serving near Carpiquet with the 7th Brigade of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. He arrived just in time for Operation Charnwood, part of the difficult effort to break German positions around Caen. Accounts of those first days describe exhausting conditions, waterlogged ground, trenches so cramped that men ate where they lay, and constant fire even before the start line was reached.

On 8 July 1944, during the fighting around the village of Cussy, the battle became confused and close. In the middle of that chaos, Murray suffered a gun shot wound in the upper leg about 2 p.m., likely by a machine gun tracer bullet at short range. He was evacuated to the 16 Casualty Clearing Station, but he died later the same day around 5 p.m..

He was buried in the Hermanville War Cemetery in Normandy. A memorial service was later held at Chalmers United Church in Kintore on 24 September 1944. Murray is also remembered in St. Marys on the Town Hall plaque, his name kept with the others who did not come home. His family honored him further by displaying a banner with his photo around town and putting his story in the Ontario Command Military Service Recognition Book so that he will never be forgotten.

Major battles and operations

Left to Right: Murray McGee, Bill McCorquodale & unknown
  • Normandy Campaign, July 1944: Joined the Canadian Scottish Regiment as a reinforcement immediately after arriving in France
  • Operation Charnwood, 8 July 1944: Offensive aimed at breaking through German positions around Caen
  • Fighting near Cussy and the Buron to Authie road, 8 July 1944:
    • Under sustained sniper and artillery fire moving up to the start line
    • Confused, close combat with heavy resistance
    • Wounded about 2 p.m., evacuated, died later the same day

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