Gordon Basil McMahon of Toulon, Manitoba, did his best to write to his sister during the war. Sometimes it was a longer letter, and at other times, simply a standard soldier’s form letter, in which a soldier indicated his general health and status through a series of standardized answers such as “I am quite well” or “I have been admitted to hospital.” He was living in Alberta at the time of his enlistment on February 7, 1916. Sadly, the private of the 50th Battalion was killed in action in France in 1917 at age nineteen.

Do you have an ancestor who served in the Great War? Submit their story and it could be included on this Great War Album website.