Mount McNair is named after Flight Sergeant Nathaniel Wesley McNair.
Born in Rosedale, Nathaniel McNair was educated at Rosedale Public and Chilliwack High Schools. He had his own paper route that he started when he was twelve. The route covered over 25 miles and Wesley delivered the news through winter and summer most cheerfully. Following school he worked as a logger near Harrison Lake and occupied his spare time hunting and fishing. Wes enlisted in the R.C.A F. in January 1942 and in February 1943 graduated from the Air Observer School in Regina as an air bomber. Overseas he served with 460 Squadron, a bomber unit of the Royal Australian Air Force. McNair was lost on a raid against Berlin when his Lancaster bomber crashed November 26, 1943 at Grossenkneten. All members of the crew were first buried in Neuer Friedhof. The crew comprised Sergeants E.J. Stones R.A.A.F., H.G. Jones, K.G. Smith, W. Belton, J.H. McIvor all of the R.A.F. and Sergeant G.D. Arnott R.C.A.F. (Ferguson, 2009).
In 1947, geographical features were named by an agency of the federal government, the Canadian Permanent Committee on Geographical names after receiving a list of names of Canadian servicemen from Chilliwack who were killed during the Second World War From Canada’s Department of National Defence. The names were divided by province and were to be assigned to geographical features close to the place of enlistment (Grainger, 1998, p.82).
Mount McNair is located in the Harrison Lake area on the north side of the Bear Creek drainage.
- Grainger, N. (1998). The Mountain Project.Chilliwack, B.C.: Neil Grainger
- Ferguson, P. (2009). Chilliwack War Memorial. Online exhibit retrieved from http://www.chilliwackmuseum.ca/war-memorial/WW2_M_names.html
Photograph caption: Flight Sergeant Nathaniel Wesley McNair [Chilliwack Museum and Archives]