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Thursday, November 11, 1999 Veteran's memorial detoured - family
"There was supposed to be a street in his name," says George MacDonald, 76, of Fairview. "My mother waited until she died to see it happen, but it never did. Someone may have forgotten that promise but we haven't." Cpl. Douglas Bertram MacDonald, 28, of Gottingen Street was with the 22nd Canadian Field Ambulance service when the Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944. The Germans held the northern part of France, bombing the rocky shore and shooting at the waves of Allied attackers on D-Day. Cpl. MacDonald was wounded and was running back to safety when he saw two injured soldiers lying nearby. He dragged the two men out of the range of fire. As the mortar shells continued to fall, he ran back to the beach to try to rescue another wounded soldier. He didn't make it. Cpl. MacDonald was hit by one of the many blasts. He died instantly. "He always thought of the other person first," said Mr. MacDonald, a sailor who was on an American ship near the Normandy shore that very day. "It came as a shock that he died, but it didn't surprise any of us that he died a hero." Their mother, Grace MacDonald, flew to Ottawa late in 1944 to receive her son's medals, which were awarded posthumously. "I watched her go up the aisle to receive the medals," said Mr. MacDonald's wife, Vera. "She was very unsteady. As they started reading off his citations, I started to cry just watching her up there. It was very emotional." Cpl. MacDonald's mother received five medals awarded to him - the Military Medal for his "gallant and distinguished conduct" in saving the lives of the two injured soldiers, the 1939-45 Star, the France and Germany Star, the award for Canadian Volunteer Service and the 1939-45 War Medal. About a year after the ceremony, the senior Mrs. MacDonald showed her daughter-in-law a letter she had received. The letter included a list of Halifax men who had died serving their country and would be honoured with a street dedicated in their memory. The name of Cpl. MacDonald, one of 340 Canadians killed in the invasion of Normandy, was on that list. "She was devastated by his death," her daughter-in-law said. "But she felt better knowing that he would get some sort of recognition." There is a MacDonald Street off Quinpool Road, but Mr. and Mrs. MacDonald said the street existed before the plan to honour the local heroes was announced. The MacDonald family would take drives in the Westmount subdivision, looking for the name Douglas MacDonald on signs. The senior Mrs. MacDonald died in 1957, without ever seeing her son honoured by having a street named after him. "I guess we had pretty much given up," Mr. MacDonald said. "I've never even talked to anyone outside our family about this before, but I'm the only one left in my family now and we (he and his wife) think it's important." Nothing has ever been written locally about Cpl. MacDonald, a former miner at the collieries near Chester Basin, who had volunteered in 1939 for service at the beginning of the Second World War along with three of his four brothers. Sgt. John MacDonald, then only 20, belonged to the Princess Louise Fusiliers, Ordinary Seaman George MacDonald enlisted in the navy at 16 and Bruce MacDonald, at 15, became a member of the Halifax Rifles and served in Italy with the infantry. The four boys followed in the footsteps of their father, Bertram Windgate MacDonald, who earned five medals during the First World War. Sgt. MacDonald brought home six medals, Ordinary Seaman MacDonald came home with seven and little brother Bruce received six more. A London newspaper even published a story about young Bruce's heroics, describing how he took 42 prisoners in a German-held town near Sicily. Mr. MacDonald said the family has never been able to confirm the story. "When we turned our mementos over to our children a few years ago, they were stunned," Mr. MacDonald said. "I had been telling them for years about Bruce, but they didn't believe it until they saw it in the newspaper." Their reaction fuelled his desire to see Cpl. MacDonald get the recognition he deserved - not only for his sake, but for the sake of his remaining family. "I want my grandchildren to have something to remember Doug by," Mr. MacDonald said. "I want them to be able to look at that sign and know he gave his life for their freedom." |
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George MacDonald, one of four Halifax
brothers
who served in the Second World War, is fighting
to have a street named after his brother Douglas,
who died a hero on D-Day. -- Eric Wynne / Herald Photo
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