George Murray MacLean
George Murray MacLean
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George Murray MacLean, known to his schoolmates as “Murray”, was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia on November 24th, 1916. Him, his two brothers, younger sister, and parents all moved to 8 Allen Place in 1919, where MacLean first attended First Avenue Public School, then Glebe Collegiate Institute. He graduated with a senior matriculation in 1936 after 5 years of schooling, and enjoyed many sports– notably basketball, hockey, and golf. After Glebe, he studied for 3 years at Queens and received an associate degree in Banking in 1939. He worked for the Bank of Canada as an accountant and foreign exchange officer thereafter, where his supervisors described him as an intelligent, earnest, and versatile worker. He got on well with those around him, and can be seen photographed below as a part of the Junior, then the Senior basketball teams at Glebe under the initials “M. MacLean.”
A capable pilot, MacLean served in the Royal Canadian Air Force under 14 E.F.T.S Elmdon. He spent his years fighting on the European front, serving as an airman in many different aircraft roles before becoming a pilot himself. He enlisted on the 15th of August, 1941, shortly after the death of his brother: Andrew Kenneth, who had also served in the war from 1940-1941. MacLean, however, was resilient, and referred to his brother’s death as further motivation to join the fight himself. He was noted to be an adept pilot by his peers, having been recommended to Officer duty in 1943. MacLean served throughout the bulk of World War II, fighting for his country until the very end.
It was 1945 when MacLean tragically died in a plane crash on Saturday, January 20th at 11:10 am EST. He had been flying out over England with one of his Flight Instructors when a large blizzard blew in, causing him to lose visuals and control of the plane as he tragically crashed, killing both himself and his passenger. He was only 5 months away from the end of World War II, and 28 years old. 6 days after his death, MacLean was buried in a joint gravestone with his brother at Heanton Punchardon in the U.K. at 4:00 pm. Their grave can still be found there, in Row K, Joint Grave no. 1463.
Primary Source Documents : https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2441686?George%20Murray%20MacLean
https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Record?app=kia&IdNumber=21772&q=george%20murray%20maclean&ecopy=sww-28119-maclean-george_murray-j45575 https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2441686?George%20Murray%20MacLean
The biographies appearing on this website have been written by students, roughly the same age as the soldiers they are studying, using primary source evidence from Library and Archives Canada, in addition to primary source documents from The Virtual War Memorial on veterans.ca. We welcome any corrections or additions you may have to these biographies.
'If we do preserve it, we honour them, and when we in our turn pass on, we will know that behind us lives a generation of free men and of free women to be the keepers of this great heritage of ours - Canada.'
- Ian A. McPhee, former student at GCI, 1937.
Glebe Collegiate Institute
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada
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