Background

George Hamilton McKee was born December 22, 1877 in Fredericton, New Brunswick, to Hamilton McKee and Myra George. According to records, George had four siblings named Mabel, Maude, Samuel Hanford, and Alexander Colton. The McKee family lived in downtown Fredericton and attended St. Paul’s United Church. Although there are few details of his childhood, George eventually attended the University of New Brunswick and graduated in 1899. George went to work as a clerk at the Post Office and eventually met a young woman named Davieda Patterson Manzer. George and Davieda married one another October 4, 1904. The McKees occupied a home on King Street over the next few years and had their first child, Ralph Hamilton, on September 15, 1905, followed by George Burton on March 15, 1907. Newspapers reveal for several years George was a physical instructor at the Y.M.C.A and prominent athlete, but just prior to the war, the McKees moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where George found work as a bottler and merchant. When war broke out in the summer of 1914, he immediately came home to New Brunswick with his family and enlisted in Saint John with the 26th Battalion on September 28, 1914. According to his attestation file, he was described as having light brown eyes, dark hair, a dark complexion, and standing approximately five feet four inches tall. Although George did not have any formal military experience, at the age of thirty-seven the desire to serve was likely hard to ignore. His two brothers, Hanford and Colton, would also enlist for duty overseas.          

Wartime Experience

Lance Corporal George McKee left Saint John for Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the winter of 1914-1915 as part of routine military training at the time. According to his service record and newspaper accounts, he returned to Saint John a few months later in preparation for going overseas to England with the 26th Battalion. While his wife and children stayed with family in Saint John, George had a boarding house at 36 Horsfield Street. On April 16, 1915 George had taken part in an afternoon military parade but fell ill that evening at the Saint John Armoury with a severe cold. The next day, newspaper accounts suggest that he was instructed to go to his barracks for rest; however, as his condition worsened physicians diagnosed the illness as pneumonia. It was believed at the time that his condition was not critical. A few days later, George’s immune system weakened and he passed away the evening of Wednesday, April 21, 1915. His death was a complete shock to everyone who knew him and was devastating news for his wife and two young boys. According to the Daily Gleaner, the following day his remains were brought to Fredericton and on April 23 a military funeral was held at his parent’s home on King Street in his honour. A firing parting from the Divisional Ammunition Column was present at his burial along with members of the 28th Field Artillery Battery, the 55th Battalion, and officers of the 71st Regiment. Pneumonia was an illness that impacted many people at the time but was particularly common among soldiers serving in the CEF. It was frequently diagnosed in the trenches because of the extreme conditions that soldiers had to endure for months at a time. The Spanish Flu alone was particularly awful for people around the world, killing between twenty and fifty million people world-wide between 1918 and 1920. At the time George succumbed to his illness, he was approximately thirty-eight years of age and had only been on active duty for six months. His death was a keen reminder of how short military service could be during the First World War even when not active in the field overseas.                 

Lest We Forget

Lance Corporal George McKee is buried with honour at the Fredericton Rural Cemetery in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The cemetery is located along the Saint River just off the Woodstock Road.