Daniel Gunn Mackay was born in Tubeg on the 17 of April 1888, the son of Georgina Mackay and was a blacksmith by trade. He emigrated to live in the United States of America, sometime before the outbreak of World War One; he lived at 1119 Washington St, Evenston, Illinious. (Evanston today is a suburb of the city of Chicago).

On the 28 of December 1917 at the age of 29, he travelled to Toronto Canada to enlist in the Canadian Army (his army number was 3031537) and immediately volunteered for service overseas. Daniel was then sent to the 1 Depot Battalion, Central Ontario Regiment at Niagara on the Lake for basic military training.

His military career only lasted six months and he was discharged from the Canadian Forces on the 29 of June 1918. The reason for his discharge is given as “Physical Unfitness” (C.E.F.M.D #.A.S. 151-26-6-18), his conduct during military service is show as good and his place of service is show as Canada, he did not serve overseas on the battlefield. Daniel Gunn Mackay was discharged from the Canadian Army in Ontario at the age of 30years and three months, he informed the military that he intended to return to Illinois to resume his previous employment. He died shortly after this in Evanston, a victim of the flu epidemic that swept around the world in the late summer and autumn of 1918. I have been unable to discover where he is buried.

His family in Tubeg added his name to the war memorial in Skerray so that he was remembered for his military service and volunteering to join the fight in France. War Memorials were erected by local people and paid for by money raised locally, no official casualty were followed, the families simply gave the names of the fallen to the local war memorial co-ordinator.