MCGILL, Margaret Airlie
Age at Death: 33
Rank Wren
Unit Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service
Service Number W4572
Place of Burial Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey, UK
Date of Birth 1912.01.10
Place of Birth Montreal PQ
Enlistment November 4, 1943, Montreal PQ
Date of Death 1945.05.24
Daughter of Edward and Louisa Airlie McGill, of Montreal, Province of Quebec, Canada; stepdaughter of Annie C. McGill, of Montreal
Margaret is notable as the first Wren to die on overseas duty. She grew up in Montreal; both her parents had died, and she lived with her stepmother, who encouraged her to enlist. She was a storekeeper at the Alexandra Hospital for nine years, and planned to open her own store after the war.
Margaret trained on the HMCS Conestoga, and stayed on there as a Wren Messenger until July 1944, when she was transferred to the HMCS Niobe in Scotland. In April 1945, she was admitted to hospital with the flu. After a few weeks, she slipped into a coma and died of tuberculosis meningitis.
