McCreery, Albert Edmund

Albert McCreery and his siblings Margaret, Eva and Kenneth were the children of Samuel and Loretta McCreery of North Oxford Lot 8 Concession 1.  He attended McMaster University as a divinity student before he joined the army as a combatant and not a chaplain. He became an officer in the Royal Canadian Armoured Corp. When the Padre of the Grenadier Guards was wounded, Albert agreed to be ordained as a Baptist minister to take his place. On May 4, 1945, at age 27, Albert was told that wounded Canadians had been left abandoned by their German captors. He and a fellow officer went out to try to find them, both unarmed. His bullet riddled body was found several days later. It is believed he may have been the last Canadian soldier to die in combat in Europe in World War II. Albert’s name appears on the Cenotaph at the Zorra Township Office and also at the Cenotaph at the Ingersoll Public Library. Albert is buried in the Canadian War Cemetery at Holten, Holland.