World War I Victoria Cross Recipient. He is remembered as Canada's youngest Victoria Cross winner and the youngest winner of a Victoria Cross for an Air action. Born in Stonewall, Manitoba, Canada, his father was a doctor. As a young boy he became interested in the military and in 1913 he enrolled in the 34th Fort Garry Horse in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and did odd jobs. After World War I broke out, he tried to enlist in the Canadian Army and then the Royal Flying Corps, but was rejected because he was not 18 years old. In 1917 as soon as he turned 18, he quit school and signed up for the Royal Flying Corps as a pilot-in-training and sent to flying school at Long Branch near Toronto, Ontario, Canada for pilot training, soloing on his 5th day of in-flight instruction. He then proceeded to Camp Borden in Ontario for intermediate training and graduated with his pilot wings and a commission as a 2nd lieutenant with only 50 hours of flying experience. In August 1917 he was sent to Europe and arrived in London, England the following month. He was then sent to France assigned to the No. 2 Squadron near Hesdigneul-Les-Bethune, making first flight over France in November 1917 and engaging in aerial combat with the enemy on several occasions. On March 27, 1918 while flying a mission over Albert, France with his observer Lieutenant Arthur Hammond, he destroyed an enemy triplane but was soon attacked by eight other aircraft, damaging his fuel tank and causing it to burst into flames and crash. Seriously wounded and under heavy enemy fire, he managed to drag his observer to safety. He was sent back to England to recover from his wounds and the following September he was awarded the Victoria Cross for his gallantry. He returned to Winnipeg, Manitoba at the end of September and died there from the Spanish Influenza epidemic at the age of 19. His Victoria Cross citation reads: "While flying with his Observer, Lt A.W. Hammond, M.C., attacking hostile formations by bombs and machine gun fire, he was assailed at a height of 5,000 feet by eight enemy tri planes which dived at him from all directions, firing from their front guns. By skilful manoeuvring he enabled his observer to fire bursts at each machine in turn, shooting three of them down out of control. By this time Lt McLeod had received five wounds, and whilst continuing the engagement a bullet penetrated his petrol tank and set the machine afire. He then climbed out on to the left bottom plane, controlling his machine from side of the fuselage, and by side-slipping steeply kept the flames to one side, thus enabling the observer to continue firing until the ground was reached. The observer had been wounded six times when the machine crashed in No Man's Land and the 2nd Lieutenant McLeod, notwithstanding his own wounds, dragged him away from the burning wreckage at great person risk from heavy machine-gun fire from the enemy's lines. This very gallant pilot was again wounded by a bomb whilst engaged in this act of rescue, but he preserved until he had placed Lt Hammond in comparative safety, before falling himself from exhaustion and lack of blood."