Skip to main content

Honouring the Heroes We Lost: Private Andrew John Jerad McNally of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion

 Honouring the Heroes We Lost: Private Andrew John Jerad McNally of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion.


Andrew "Andy" John Jerad McNally, of Edmonton, Alberta immigrated to Canada when he was 2 years old from his birth town of Randalstown Northern Ireland. 

Andy, the eldest of 11 children had aspirations of becoming a machinist. These dreams would be put on hold with the outbreak of World War II.

"In October 1941 at the age of 17 years old Andy joined the 2nd Battalion of the Edmonton Fusiliers, a reserve unit of the Canadian Army. 

He was a high school student in the 10th grade when he dropped out of school and entered active military service on January 16, 1942. 

Andy was only 17, although his military records list an incorrect birthdate putting him at age 18 at the time. Following basic training Andy took driver's training at Red Deer, then transferred to the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion. 

Following advanced training at Currie Barracks in Calgary he joined the battalion in January 1943 and qualified as a paratrooper on March 14th. Andy received his parachutist training at Fort Benning, Georgia and Shiloh, Manitoba." - Find a Grave Database 

"Private McNally was assigned as a Bren gunner to the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion's C Company. Andy and the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion sailed aboard the Queen Elizabeth to the UK in late July, disembarking on July 28th. 

The battalion was attached to the 3rd Parachute Brigade, British 6th Airborne Division. Stationed at Carter Barracks in Bulford, England they continued training for the next year in preparation for airborne operations."

"In the early hours of June 6, 1944, Private Andy McNally and the rest of C Company became the first Canadians on the ground in France on D-Day, parachuting in ahead of the rest of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion and the 3rd Parachute Brigade during Operation Tonga."

"On Christmas Day the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion headed for Belgium to take part in the Battle of the Bulge, the only Canadian fighting unit on the ground to do so. 

At around 0500 hrs on the morning of January 27, 1945 in the Ardennes Andy was wounded in action for the second time and evacuated to the 84th British General Hospital. 

After several weeks of recovery on February 19 he rejoined the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion which was now fighting in the Netherlands." - Find a Grave Database

On March 24, 1945 the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion took part in Operation Varsity. 

Private McNally was fatally wounded during this operation. Andy was 20 years old.

Private Andrew John Jerad McNally lies in rest at Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery and Memorial in Groesbeek, Berg en Dal Municipality, Gelderland, Netherlands. Lest We Forget.

Thank you for reading.

Don't forget to leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war.

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war.                                                                                      In April 1945, 2nd Lt. Peter During was a South African fighter pilot (N.7 Squadron) running missions over Italy when his Spitfire was shot down by German AA fire. He managed to crash land his plane behind enemy lines where he was immediately captured.   Whilst been escorted to a German Lufwaffe Prisoner of War (POW) camp (he was a pilot and thus his interrogation and imprisonment was the responsibility of the German airforce), he opened a conversation with his captors. He was quickly able to establish that they could already see the writing on the wall, that the war was at an end and Germany would lose it. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

He said the family were "acutely aware" there were "extremists of all sides who are keen to hijack this incident for their own ends".

The family of a man who was kicked in the head by police at Manchester Airport has appealed for "calm in all the communities", an MP has said. Paul Waugh, Rochdale MP, said the "traumatised" family wanted to make it clear they had "no political agenda whatsoever" and did not condone political violence. Anger over the video led to protests outside Rochdale police station on Wednesday and Thursday nights, with another protest also held in Manchester city centre on Thursday. Mr Waugh said the family would not be attending any protests or giving any media interviews as they wanted their privacy protected. "The strong message they wanted to give is that they have no political agenda whatsoever," he told BBC Breakfast. "They wanted me to issue an appeal for calm among all sorts of different communities in Rochdale. "We've had a history of unfortunate division in our town and we do not want to go back to those days." He said the famil...
Post a Comment
Read more

Can a woman ra*pe a man?

Can a woman ra*pe a man? WHENEVER rape is mentioned, the picture that comes to mind is that of a man having sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent. That is why laws and policies often seek to protect women against men. For example, S. 258 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011 states that any man who has unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman or girl without her consent is guilty of an offence called rape and is liable to imprisonment for life. This section makes it clear that it is only men and not women that can commit “the offence called rape”. On other hand, Section 259 of the same law defines sexual assault by penetration using the words “any person” who penetrates sexually any opening in the body of another person with apart of his body or anything else without consent is guilty of a felony and liable to life imprisonment. This is what the law says. Practically, can a woman physically overpower a man and sexually assault him by penetrating an opening in his bo...
Post a Comment
Read more