Personal Details | |
Date of Birth | October 9, 1884 |
Place of Birth | West Lorne, Ontario |
Country | Canada |
Marital Status | Single |
Next of Kin | Sister: Lena McLennan of West Lorne, Ontario |
Trade / Calling | Locomotive Engineer |
Religion | Presbyterian |
Service Details | |
Regimental Number | 2125015 |
Service Record | Link to Service Record |
Battalion | No. 58 Broad Gauge Railway Operating Company |
Force | Canadian Expeditionary Force |
Branch | Canadian Railway Troops |
Enlisted / Conscripted | Enlisted |
Address at Enlistment | Kenora |
Date of Enlistment | January 31, 1917 |
Age at Enlistment | 32 |
Theatre of Service | Europe |
Prisoner of War | No |
Survived War | Yes |
Death Details | |
Date of Death | January 8, 1976 |
Age at Death | 91 |
Buried At | Chapel Lawn Memorial Gardens, Winnipeg, Manitoba |
John Alexander McLennan was among many skilled who recruited during the First World War, not to fight in the trenches, but for their peacetime skills needed in the war effort.
McLennan was born in West Lorne, Elgin County, Ontario Oct. 9, 1884 to Kenneth McLennan and Catherine McRae. As a young man he’d joined the Canadian Pacific Railway company and moved west to work as a locomotive engineer. In the 1906 census he was based in Manitoba, and by 1916 was living at the YMCA in Kenora and driving trains in the Kenora CPR Division.
In January of 1917 the army put out a call for volunteers from the countries railways, primarily engineers and brakeman, to run trains in France serving the allied war effort.
McLennan was one of 32 men from the Kenora CPR division to volunteer with the No. 1 Section, Skilled Railway Employees unit, signing his attestation papers Jan. 31, 1917 in Winnipeg.
Because the men were sought for their railway skills military training was brief and the No. 1 section, with volunteers from across Canada, sailed for England on March 4, 1917 with 265 men and four officers on their nominal roll.
After training in England for a month where McLennan was promoted to Acting Corporal, the men moved on the France and John McLennan was assigned as a locomotive engineer with the No. 58 Broad Gauge Railway Operating Company.
McLellan remained in France with the No. 58 Company until April 1919, except for a two-week leave in England in March 1918.
Following his return to Canada and his discharge in Winnipeg May 27, 1919, McLennan returned to Kenora and his job with the CPR.
On Sept. 8, 1920 he married Myrtle Anne Clarke in Kenora. The 1921 census lists them as living with Myrtle’s sister Jennie and her husband Severin Onarheim and their children. John and Myrtle remained in Kenora for many years, raising two daughters – Catherine and Helen.
Myrtle passed away in 1967 at the Grace Hospital in Winnipeg and John later moved to Neepawa, Manitoba to live with his daughter Catherine and her family. He passed away there in January 1976 at the age of 91.
His obituary noted his long service to the railway in Kenora and the Masonic Lodge.
by Bob Stewart