Lieutenant Elmer Garfield McKay was born 16 December 1898 in Moncrieff, Ontario, son of William Vass McKay and Christina Forbes McBeth.

McKay was working as a schoolmaster in Monkton, Ontario when he enlisted with the 255th Battalion on 2 March 1917. He was eventually posted as a signaler to the 3rd Battalion with which he served from 21 December 1917 until he returned to Canada 14 April 1919.

Its believed he continued with the 3rd Toronto Regiment (Militia) after the war and became a Lieutenant.

He died 12 January 1976 and is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery.

See the transcription of McKay’s “My Diary in France 1917-1918.” (The diary was found in a house being cleaned out in Port Hope where McKay’s son had lived. It was passed on to another Port Hope resident who contacted us and donated it to our museum.)