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Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Norman James MacKenzie

In memory of:

Sergeant Norman James MacKenzie

April 23, 1915

Military Service


Service Number:

29287

Age:

30

Force:

Army

Unit:

Canadian Infantry (Manitoba Regiment)

Division:

16th Bn.

Additional Information


Born:

September 3, 1884

Son of Alexander A. and Martha McKenzie, of Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.

Brother of Wallace Alexander MacKenzie who died on April 25, 1915 while serving with the Canadian Infantry (Manitoba Regiment).

Commemorated on Page 26 of the First World War Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.

Burial Information


Cemetery:
Grave Reference:

Panel 24 - 26 - 28 - 30

Location:


The Menin Gate Memorial is situated at the eastern side of the town of Ypres (now Ieper) in the Province of West Flanders, on the road to Menin and Courtrai. It bears the names of 55,000 men who were lost without trace during the defence of the Ypres Salient in the First World War. Designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield and erected by the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission, it consists of a Hall of Memory", 36.6 metres long by 20.1 metres wide. In the centre are broad staircases leading to the ramparts which overlook the moat, and to pillared loggias which run the whole length of the structure. On the inner walls of the Hall, on the side of the staircases and on the walls of the loggias, panels of Portland stone bear the names of the dead, inscribed by regiment and corps. Carved in stone above the central arch are the words:


TO THE ARMIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE WHO STOOD HERE FROM 1914 TO 1918 AND TO THOSE OF THEIR DEAD WHO HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVE.

Over the two staircases leading from the main Hall is the inscription:

HERE ARE RECORDED NAMES OF OFFICERS AND MEN WHO FELL IN YPRES SALIENT BUT TO WHOM THE FORTUNE OF WAR DENIED THE KNOWN AND HONOURED BURIAL GIVEN TO THEIR COMRADES IN DEATH.

The dead are remembered to this day in a simple ceremony that takes place every evening at 8:00 p.m. All traffic through the gateway in either direction is halted, and two buglers (on special occasions four) move to the centre of the Hall and sound the Last Post. Two silver trumpets for use in the ceremony are a gift to the Ypres Last Post Committee by an officer of the Royal Canadian Artillery, who served with the 10th Battery, of St. Catharines, Ontario, in Ypres in April 1915."

Information courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Digital Collection

Send us your images

  • Memorial– Inscription on the Menin Gate … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
  • Memorial– Remembering brothers lost … Brothers In Arms Memorial, Zonnebeke, BE … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens … May 2022
  • Newspaper clipping– From the Montreal Star 1915. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Photo of Norman James MacKenzie– Norman James MacKenzie of 79th Cameron Highlander who died in the Balle of Ypres in 1916. He was born in California, but when his mother died was taken to the family family at Lot #22 -9th Kenyon Glengarry County, Ontario. He and his brother Wallace both died in the Battle of Ypres. Prior to the war he worked for the Miller-Morse Hardware Company in Winnipeg.

Learn more about the Canadian Virtual War Memorial

To learn more please visit our help page. If you have questions or comments regarding the information contained in this registry, email or call us. For inquiries regarding the names and information found in the RCMP Honour Roll, please email the RCMP.

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