Vimy Week Stories - Lieutenant Francis Clarence McGee

Lieutenant Francis Clarence McGee, known as "One-Eyed Frank McGee," was born on November 4, 1882, in Ottawa, Ontario. Before the First World War, he was a talented hockey player, despite losing his left eye in an amateur game. This injury did not deter him from achieving remarkable success—he won the Stanley Cup three times with Ottawa and set a record for the most goals scored in a single Stanley Cup game (14). His contributions to the sport earned him a place in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Despite his partial blindness, McGee enlisted in the military and became a Lieutenant in the 21st Battalion, Canadian Infantry. His nephew, Frank Charles McGee, recounted how he managed to pass the eye exam by cleverly covering his blind eye with one hand, then switching hands instead of eyes while reading the chart—tricking the examiner into believing both eyes were functional.

McGee was wounded in the knee in 1915, an injury that should have ended his military service. However, he returned on August 21, 1916, as a motorcycle dispatch rider. On September 16, 1916, he was killed in action at Courcelette during the Battle of the Somme. His brothers, Charles and Walter, also served in the war, with Charles' name commemorated alongside McGee's on the Vimy Memorial.

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