Malcolm MacLeod was born January 28, 1915, in L’Orignal; the youngest son of Duncan and Eleonora MacLeod. Malcolm grew up in the area, attending high school in Hawkesbury. He was affectionately known as Mackie and worked as a front office clerk at the Seigniory Club (Château Montebello). 

He enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force May 5, 1941, at 26 years old. Mackie trained in Canada at St-Eugène, Uplands, Trenton, St-Hubert and Jarvis. He was appointed to be an officer in the Active Force of the Dominion of Canada on September 18, 1943 and received the rank of Pilot Officer. 

Mackie went overseas and trained on the Lancaster bomber. As a member of the Iroquois Squadron No. 431, his first bombing mission was December 15, 1944. 

On Mackie’s 10^th mission, January 15, 1945, he and his crew were in a mid-air collision with a German M. E. 109 fighter aircraft. Mackie’s plane exploded and crashed near the target at Merseburg, Germany. Of the crew of seven men, only the tail gunner survived.

Mackie’s family, at home in L’Orignal, received the terrible news that their son was missing in action. His wife, Joan (née Kirby), was left with their 22-month-old son, Ross.

Mackie and his crew are buried at the Berlin War Cemetery in Charlottenburg, Germany. Joan and Mackie’s son, Ross, and granddaughter Erin visited his grave in recent years.

On November 11, 2005, a celebratory mass for “Year of the Veteran” took place in St-Jean-Baptiste Church, L’Orignal. At that service, a poignant testimonial by Erin MacLeod was read, entitled: “The Grandfather I Never Knew”.

Thus, the memory of a beloved son, husband, father and grandfather lives on.