A lot of good folks—writers, editors, designers, marketers, administrators—have come and gone over the course of three decades at Legion Magazine. Through it all, Tom MacGregor has been a constant. He retired in January, after 31 years working to fill these pages.
MacGregor came to Legion Magazine in 1989 after writing and editing primarily for newspapers. He got started at the Queen’s Journal and then the Kingston Whig-Standard. He joined the staff of his hometown newspaper, the weekly Huntsville Forester, at age 23, covering fall fairs, cottage-country features and occasional police and court stories.
The winding road of daily news eventually led him to Legion Magazine, where he progressed from writer to assistant editor to news editor.
As he did so, the publication was evolving from an association journal of veterans’ news and memoirs to a bimonthly magazine that is now recognized as the country’s leading compendium of military history.
As news editor, MacGregor assigned and edited much of the magazine’s content, including the News and Snapshots sections and several columns. He has written scores of news stories, feature articles and two editions of Canada’s Ultimate Story: “John McCrae and the Battles of Flanders” and “Canada and the Victoria Cross.”
For “Going back to Gallipoli” (January/February 2016), MacGregor travelled with a pilgrimage to Turkey exploring sites where the Royal Newfoundland Regiment fought its early battles of the First World War.
He also edited three editions of Canada’s Ultimate Story and the Veterans Benefits Guide and wrote two e-books.
With his encyclopedic knowledge of veterans’ issues, MacGregor’s experience and depth has been invaluable through the pandemic too, as he handed his reins off to Trevor Oattes, the magazine’s new assistant editor.
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