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General => Armed Forces => World War Two => Topic started by: ryan37 on Friday 24 July 20 21:09 BST (UK)
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Hi there
I’m seeking any information on
Robert Anderson McDonald Gordon
Highlander Pte 2883065 who was killed in world war 2
His parents were John and Helen McDonald from
Strathdon
Can anyone tell me what happened to him and if there is any photo available I notice some newspapers printed photos of fallen men
Thanks in advance for any help given
Ryan
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He died on 12 June 1940, aged 22 and is buried in Grave 3 at Ourville en Caux Communal Cemetery, France.
He was the son of John and Helen McDonald, of Strathdon, Aberdeenshire.
Unfortunately the Commonwealth War Graves Commmission offers no further information.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2689045/ROBERT%20ANDERSON%20McDONALD/
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Hi Ryan
These look to be his burial details here www.ww2cemeteries.com/ourville-en-caux-communal-cemetery.html
Given the dates of the other 3 burials, the 11th and 12th June seem key. You may find some further details by trying to find war diaries for the Gordon Highlanders for that time. Dunkirk comes to mind around this time (a little earlier 26/5 to 4/6 1940).
Monica
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The 51st Highland Division tried unsuccessfully to evacuate at St. Valery on 11th June, a separate operation to the earlier evacuation at Dunkirk:
https://51hd.co.uk/history/valery_1940
https://www.poppyscotland.org.uk/get-involved/saint-valery/history-of-st-valery/
Tony
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Fantastic additions folks very very interesting links Aswell,
Thanks each and everyone of you very much for your help
And efforts
Ryan
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Simon Sebag-Montefiore devotes a whole section of his book "Dunkirk - to the last man" to the sacrifice (his term) of the 51st Division at the time of Dunkirk.
If https://britishwargraves.co.uk/ have a copy of a photo of his headstone they will provide it free.
Max
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Fantastic addition thanks
I will try that
Thanks for your great help and contributions
Ryan
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I do not know what happened to Robert but looks like he was not killed in a major battle. Possibly with 3 others trying to get somewhere. May be they were killed trying to get to the evacuation areas. Four killed. Four buried. The family at home must have known about the incident as they comment after the war.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2689045/ROBERT%20ANDERSON%20McDONALD/
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The query is above my generalist knowledge of war deaths, As you can see from one of the items the war graves people are still documenting the site in 1954. Was the grave documentation started at the time of death by the locals (Parish Priest?) and completed after the war ended. I have never seen anything like this before.
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Sadly it was 6 months until his death was confirmed, according to the following item in the Aberdeen Evening Express of 17 December 1940:
STRATHDON SOLDIER KILLED
Intimation has been received that Pte. R. Macdonald, Gordon Highlanders, who was posted missing last June, had been killed in action. A native of Strathdon, where his widowed mother still resides, he was one of five brothers in the Army, and before the war he was a gardener at Fyvie Castle, where his brother* is head gardener to Sir Ian Forbes-Leith. Pte. Macdonald was a popular young man in Fyvie.
*The brother was called Hector Macdonald
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One of the contributions to the 51 Div history https://51hd.co.uk/history/valery_1940 "Surrender at St Valery" has a sketch of the dispositions of regiments around St Valery. The area to the south and west of St Valery towards Ourville en Caux is marked as 1st Battalion Gordons which suggests that was his battalion and that perhaps as barryd suggests, he and others were making their way towards Le Havre where another evacuation, not as well known as Dunkirk, was taking place at the same time.
MaxD
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Great posts folks , that’s very informative info and I admire your kind help
Thank you
May I ask how did you find out his brother was hector ??
Ryan
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... May I ask how did you find out his brother was hector ??
Because there are a couple of Aberdeen newspaper articles indicating same:
- firstly, an article in May 1940 covering the retirement of a Mr. McAndrew, the head gardener at Fyvie Castle, in which it says that congratulations were offered to 'Hector MacDonald, foreman gardener, on his appointment by Sir Ian [ie. Forbes-Leith] to be Mr McAndrew's successor';
- secondly, an article with photo in March 1975 about Hector and his wife travelling to Kuala Lumpur to attend their 43 year old son's wedding (I won't name him here, in case alive), in which it says 'From Strathdon, Mr. McDonald was head gardener at Fyvie Castle before moving to Glasgow where he became the corporation's district superintendent of parks'.
(BTW, Hector was the son born in 1906 at 'Old Simiel Strathdon' to parents John McDonald and Helen Simpson, father John died in 1930, the newspaper death notice at the time said 'At Old Sameil, Strathdon, on the 16th January, 1930, John McDonald, beloved husband of Helen Simpson, aged 62 years. Funeral on Monday, 20th inst., at 2.30 p.m., to Strathdon Churchyard. All friends respectfully invited.' With the usual health warning about accuracy, a tree on the 'Ancestry' website suggests that John McDonald and Helen Simpson also had a son William Simpson McDonald in 1902, a daughter Elizabeth Catherine McDonald in 1910, and a son Robert Anderson McDonald in 1918, but obviously the previously posted 1940 newspaper reference to Robert being one of 'five brothers in the Army' means that there were other sons.)