Friends of the Somme - Mid Ulster Branch  
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Updates for Gunner William John McMullan
Date Information
08/03/2020 William’s sister Eva Whittle lived in Toronto, Canada. In his will William left his effects to Eva’s son.
08/03/2020 The 1901 census lists the McMullan family living at house 3 in Mossmore, Benburb, County Tyrone. They were a farming family.
08/03/2020 William John McMullan was born on 29th April 1904. He was one of at least nine children, all born in the Benburb area.
08/03/2020 The 1911 census lists William John as a age 7, living with the family at house 9 in Crubinagh, Benburb. Archibald McMullan was a farmer.
08/03/2020 Known family: Archibald McMullan, Mary Harriet McMullan, James Archibald McMullan (born 15th April 1900), Eva Isabella McMullan (born 12th December 1901), William John McMullan (born 29th April 1904), Edwin Samuel McMullan (born 15th February 1906), Alfred Thomas McMullan (born 6th February 1908), Edith Alecia McMullan (born 21st October 1909), Aubrey McMullan (born 1st January 1912), Annie McMullan (born 12th November 1913), Sidney McMullan (born 17th February 1916).
08/03/2020 William John McMullan emigrated to Canada.
08/03/2020 William settled in western Canada in British Columbia. He became Shawnigan Lake School’s odd-job man from about 1927 to 1939 and had assisted in levelling the school fields.
08/03/2020 When war was declared, he just failed to be the first to enlist in the district. He was a truck driver at the time. On enlistment, William gave his address as Shawnigan Lake Post Office. His next of kin was his father, living at Drumflough, Benburb.
08/03/2020 Gunner William McMullan served with the 3rd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, part of the Royal Canadian Infantry Corps (R.C.I.C.) during World War Two.
08/03/2020 William John McMullan was the son of Archibald and Mary Harriet McMullan. Archibald McMullan and Mary Harriet Richardson were married on 30th June 1899 in the district of Dungannon.
08/03/2020 Operation Jubilee, more commonly referred to as the Dieppe Raid, was an Allied assault on the German-occupied port of Dieppe, France on 19th August 1942. The main assault lasted less than six hours until strong German defences and mounting Allied losses forced its commanders to call a retreat. Over 6,000 infantrymen, predominantly Canadian, were supported by The Calgary Regiment of the 1st Canadian Tank Brigade and a strong force of Royal Navy and smaller Royal Air Force landing contingents. It involved 5,000 Canadians and 1,000 British troops. The raid was poorly planned and 3,623 of the 6,086 men who made it ashore were killed, wounded, or captured. The Royal Air Force failed to lure the Luftwaffe into open battle and lost 106 aircraft. The events at Dieppe influenced preparations for the North African (Operation Torch) and Normandy landings (Operation Overlord).
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08/03/2020 Gunner William John McMullan has no known grave. He is commemorated on Panel 23 of the Brookwood 1939-1945 Memorial, located thirty miles from London.
08/03/2020 The Brookwood Memorial commemorates 3,500 men and women of the land forces of the Commonwealth who died during the Second World War and have no known grave, the circumstances of their death being such that they could not appropriately be commemorated on any of the campaign memorials in the various theatres of war. They died in the campaign in Norway in 1940, or in the various raids on enemy occupied territory in Europe such as Dieppe and St Nazaire. Others were special agents who died as prisoners or while working with Allied underground movements. Some died at sea, in hospital ships and troop transports, in waters not associated with the major campaigns, and a few were killed in flying accidents or in aerial combat.
08/03/2020 Gunner William John McMullan is commemorated locally on Moy War Memorial.
08/03/2020 Gunner William John McMullan is also commemorated on a plaque at Shawnigan Lake School in British Columbia where he worked for twelve years.
08/03/2020 The CWGC record Gunner William John McMullan as the son of Archibald and Mary McMullan of Benburb, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
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08/03/2020 Gunner William McMullan was serving in Europe when he was killed in action at the Dieppe debacle on 19th August 1942.
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