Funeral for Capt. Thomas McQueen will be held in Hamilton

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Captain Thomas McQueen will be remembered at a ceremony at the Warplane Heritage Museum on Wednesday, December 7 at 11:00 a.m.  The funeral is open to the public and will conclude at approximately 12:30 p.m. Four CF-18 Hornets from 3 Wing Bagotville, Que. are expected to conduct a flyby during the service. Following the ceremony, a procession will travel along an extended Highway of Heroes to the National Military Cemetery at Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa, Ont.

The 29-year-old from a small town near Cayuga was killed last week when his CF-18 fighter jet went down in a training exercise near the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. McQueen was well known at the Warplane Heritage Museum, he was a co-op student and used to mentor kids in the summer program.

The 401 squadron and others who were close to Captain Thomas McQueen have arrived from the base in Cold Lake to be pall bearers and ushers at his funeral. They are a close knit group. “It was like we lost our little brother.”

McQueen was on a combat training exercise when he crashed, exactly one month from the date he was supposed to get married at a family cottage in Muskoka. When he was home, McQueen would always visit the museum, where his career began as a 15-year-old co-op student. Museum CEO Dave Rohrer says McQueen stood out from a crowd and no one was surprised when he made it to the top. And after less than three years flying CF-18s, McQueen was already a lead pilot in line to be a tactical instructor.