Lieutenant Cullen Hay Perry was born in Whitby, Ontario to parents John Ham Perry and Louisa Hay Perry on August 15, 1893.

Perry enlisted at Valcartier, Quebec on September 22, 1914.  Prior to that, Perry had served for one year with the militia in Cobourg, Ontario.  He sailed to England in October 1914 aboard the SS Tunisian as part of the First Contingent and served with the 3rd Battalion, Queen’s Own Rifles, in France.  In June 1915 Perry took a commission in the British Imperial Army and was attached to the Royal Fusiliers as a Second Lieutenant and from there transferred to the Royal Flying Corps.  He was sent to Egypt in October of 1917 and was killed in an accident on February 3, 1918.  Perry is buried in the Alexandria (Hadra) War Memorial Cemetery in Alexandria.

External links:
Lieutenant Cullen Hay Perry’s CEF service record (Serv/Reg# 10161) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information for Perry is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Perry can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Perry’s Royal Flying Corps record can be downloaded from the National Archives in Britain.  A free registration is required to access the materials.

Collection note:
The collection consists of seven letters written home to his mother in Whitby, Ontario, as well as one photograph.  The original letters can be found in the Whitby Archives, Whitby, Ontario.

[Editor’s note:  Collection reviewed/updated January, 2026.  Scans of the original letter photocopies have been added.  Additional information added to content description and additional external links added.]