Son of Dan Xavier and Annie McNeil of Benacadie Pond, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
Pte. McNeil and his eight siblings were raised by their father, Dan, after the untimely death of their mother in 1932. At the time of her death, John was only 9 years old. Eight years later at the age of 17, John enlisted with the West Nova Scotia Regimen at Sydney, NS. On his enlistment papers, he recorded his age as 18. Pte. McNeil was killed in action three years later in Italy, at the age of only 20 years old.
Although he would never know it, Pte. John Hugh McNeil later became the namesake of many descendents of the McNeil clan of Benacadie Pond, NS. His sacrifice continues to be honoured and remembered by his family.
Fallen
