Antigonish County honours region's 1st WWI casualty

A hundred years ago this Wednesday, Malignant Cove native and First World War soldier John Angus McNeil became Antigonish County's first combat fatality of the Great War.

Hisstory is one that Bruce MacDonald wants Canadians to know about.

• The first Nova Scotian to die in WW1

MacDonald is a retired social studies teacher and an amateur historian who has spent the past four years researching the First World War soldiers from Nova Scotia especially those from Guysborough County.

He became involved in researching soldiers from neighbouring Antigonish County through a committee sponsored by Antigonish County's heritage museum.

The group's goal is to find out more about the series of names listed on a local monument to First World War soldiers.

"The stories hopefully will help to convey the scope of their personal sacrifice and in particular the impact of their loss on family and community," MacDonald said.

John Angus McNeil

John Angus was the second of six children born to Donald and Sarah McNeil. Sometime after 1901 he and two of his brothers travelled to British Columbia to work in lumber camps on Vancouver Island.

Eventually,he headed a little further west to New Zealand with a new plan to become a sheep farmer.

But the Great War had another fatefor McNeil. In October 1914, he enlisted with one of New Zealand's four battalions: The Otago Reinforcements.

The battalion trained in Egypt and became part of the Australia-New Zealand Army Corp. They were appointed as part of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force and assigned to military action in Gallipoli, Turkey.

Died from wounds in battle at Gallipoli

McNeil fought and survived many battles over several months, but was shotin an attack in the third week of August 1915.

He suffered a severe wound and fracture in his right leg. He was evacuated to hospital in Alexandria, Egypt, where he died on Sept.2, 1915.

His mother received a letter with the news from New Zealand's High Commissioner in London.

Bruce MacDonald says there will be no formal ceremony in Antigonishto mark the centenary. But he will includeJohn Angus McNeil's story in his next blog post to ensure we never forget.