Military Veterans & Soldiers

I want to honour all soldiers and veterans now and from the past for the work that they do and have done for all our lives as they have touched so many lives by what they do and have done for generations. Let us all remember them in the Memorial services around our countries by attending them or at least thinking about these brave people and the courage and honour that they all deserve

Honour to all the veterans of all wars I'd like to honour my Uncle Ed Evans and Uncle Wes McQueen who joined the military in WW11 to fight for our freedoms. I honour my Uncle Robert McQueen who served in WW11 through Europe to come home physically untouched and drowned shortly afterward his arrival home.


Honour to one of my family member veterans tonight Thomas Bradley I wanted to honour my great Uncle Thomas Bradley who was Gassed in France during WW1. My mother said that he carried a cough all his life, forever coughing. You couldn't help feeling sorry for him. He was one of the many that had to live his life forever changed after the war.


I wish to pay tribute and honour right now to my great grandfather Alfred Jackson. He left Bolton, Lancashire, England with his wife and 4 daughters around 1911 and came to Canada to live. Shortly after WW1 broke out Alfred Jackson enlisted in the Canadian Reserves and the Canadian army took all the Reserves because of the total number of casualties from the regular army and sent the Reserves over to Europe to fight.

Alfred Jackson was shipped to England his homeland Oct 10, 1915 four years after he came to Canada and was then sent to a military base in France on Mar 14, 1916. He arrived at his military unit Mar 15, 1916 and then he was sent into battle to fight. He was killed in action by an enemy shell Mar 25, 1916.

Alfred Jackson died 11 days after his arrival into enemy battle. Alfred's wife Annie and his mother Elizabeth Jackson from England received these medals to honour him. They were given the Canadian Memorial Cross GRV, the Memorial Cross GVIR & the Memorial Cross ER11 for the sacrifice that he made dying for his country and for world peace.

Annie was left a widow with 4 children in a new country to provide for herself and her children. I wish to pay honour to them all for what they had gone through for all of us.


I wish to pay a tribute to my father Cecil (Mac) McQueen who fought in WW11. My father, his parents and siblings left Belfast, Ireland to come to Canada in 1920. They suffered great loss coming to Canada during the depression times. There was no work because of the great Depression so when WW11 broke out a lot of men joined in the military so they would they would have jobs.

Cecil McQueen joined the Army to fight for his country and freedom Aug 15, 1943. He was sent to England Feb 24, 1944. Cecil was sent into France Aug 6, 1944 where he was shot and wounded Aug 28, 1944. His right leg was wounded so he was sent to a military hospital to treat his wound and he was later discharged Oct 16, 1944 and put back into the front lines to fight again. He was promoted to Sargent Oct 27,1944

Cecil was promoted again to Corporal after Jan 7, 1945 and then he was wounded again Mar 3, 1945 by a machine gun that left his left leg hanging by the bone. He crawled back into the trenches where he lay until the soldiers coming to take the dog tags off the dead found him alive and had him flown back to the military hospital to be treated. After that flight my father would never fly again his entire life.

My father was eventually sent back to Toronto, Ontario, Canada where he spent the next 2 yrs in Christie Military Hospital being treated for his left leg wound by the machine gun where the Doctors tried to save his left leg but eventually the gangrene caused them to have to amputate Cecil's left leg. My father being an athlete this killed a part of his spirit as did some of the civilian employer's he had after the war that wouldn't give him a raise or employment as they said to him that he was only half a man. This is how my father was treated after his service for his country and for sacrificing for our rights, liberties and our freedoms. I never seen my father ever cry until he came home from the employer or prospective employer after they told him this. They truly broke his spirit after what he suffered there during the war and now back in civilian life.

My father was awarded these Canadian medals: The Italy Star for serving in Sicily or Italy, The France and German Star for serving in France, Belgium, Holland or Germany ( I know for sure my father was in France and Belgium but his Military papers don't state the last wound location and most soldiers don't talk to much about their experiences in battle); The Defense Medal for serving over 6 months in Britain; The C.V.S.M Medal for volunteering and serving honorably for eighteen months; The War Medal for military service from 1939-1945.

I love you Papa and miss you and still remember you Papa. Papa (Cecil Mac McQueen) died Oct 12, 1998. I want to pay tribute to my father for what he done for me, my family and for the many people's lives that he touched. May you rest in peace to me you've always been a whole man!

I was able to receive much of this information from the military records I asked the govt for of my family. It is available you just need to contact them. Who knows what stories you can find out about your family.


by Queenie1