Private Donald MacDonald, Sherwood Foresters
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| Pte Donald MacDonald, Sherwood Foresters |
From Whitehaven, Cumberland
Killed in action at Anzio, Italy (15 March 1944)
Photograph: Courtesy of 'The Whitehaven News'
For additional information click on 'Comments' below.
posted by ritsonvaljos at 8:07 pm
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Additional information
Some biographical information
Private Donald MacDonald from Whitehaven, Cumberland (now Cumbria) was killed in action at Anzio (Italy) on 15 March 1944. Having went overseas 3 months earlier, in March 1944 Private MacDonald was serving with the 14th Battalion Sherwood Foresters. His final resting place is at the Beach Head War Cemetery, Anzio (Grave Ref. VII.G.9).
Private MacDonald was the son of the late Kenneth MacDonald and Mrs Williamina MacDonald of Whitehaven. He was also the husband of Elsie MacDonald (née Pickthall) whom he had married in 1940. Donald and Elsie MacDonald had one son, also called Donald, born in 1943.
In the First World War, Private MacDonald's father Kenneth served with the Border Regiment. According to the obituary for Donald MacDonald in 'The Whitehaven News' in 1944 his father initially served with the 11th (Lonsdale) Battalion. In April 1918 Private Kenneth MacDonald was reported missing presumed killed in the Fifth Army withdrawal on the Western Front. This was at the time the Germans launched what was virtually a last ditch assault to break through on the Western Front. Private Kenneth MacDonald's body was never identified and he has no known resting place.
Prior to enlisting, Private Donald MacDonald had worked for the grocery firm of Stalker's, King Street, Whitehaven. In 1944 his wife, Mrs Elsie MacDonald, was living with her parents at the White Bull Hotel, Whitehaven while his mother, Mrs Wilhelmina MacDonald, was at the Royal Oak Hotel, Whitehaven.
Private Donald MacDonald is commemorated in the WW2 Borough of Whitehaven 'Book of Remembrance'.
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CWGC citation
This is the Commonwealth War Graves Commission citation for Private Donald MacDonald:
Name: MACDONALD, DONALD
Rank: Private
Service No: 4131123
Date of Death: 15/03/1944
Age: 28
Regiment/Service: Sherwood Foresters
(Notts and Derby Regiment), 14th Bn.
Grave Reference: VII. G. 9.
Cemetery: BEACH HEAD WAR CEMETERY, ANZIO (Italy)
Additional Information:
Son of Kenneth and Williamina Macdonald;
Husband of Elsie Macdonald, of Whitehaven, Cumberland.
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Family tributes
The following tributes to Private Donald MacDonald appeared in the 'Family Notices' section of 'The Whitehaven News' on Thursday 14 March 1946:
"MacDonald
Treasured memories of a dearly loved son and brother, Donald, who made the supreme sacrifice on March 15th 1944.
To the world, just one,
To us, all the world.
Always remembered by Mam, Ken and Queenie".
.......................
"MacDonald -
In loving memory of a dear husband and daddy, Donald, who was killed in action at Anzio, March 15th 1944.
He sleeps in a garden where white crosses stand,
Where heroes have fallen in a foreign land,
Dear are the memories of the young life he gave,
He died for his loved ones, his country to save
From his loving wife Elsie, and Donald".
......................
Dedication
This article is dedicated to the memory of Private Donald MacDonald, Sherwood Foresters.
"You have followed your last Command,
And are now at rest in a foreign land,
The memory of you will always be kept,
Someone who gave his all we will not forget".
May he rest in peace.
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Acknowledgements
Cumbria County Archives & Local Studies Centre,
(Whitehaven Records Office)
'The Whitehaven News'
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