MCDONALD, Lionel Sydney Roderick
| Service Number: | 3161 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 16 August 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 54th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Glen Innes, New South Wales, Australia, 31 October 1886 |
| Home Town: | Glen Innes, Glen Innes Severn, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Glen Innes Public School, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Horse Breaker & Mail Coach Driver |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 19 July 1916, aged 29 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Remembered at VC Corner Memorial, Fromelles, France. |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, V.C. Corner Australian Cemetery Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 16 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3161 | |
|---|---|---|
| 8 Oct 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 3161, 2nd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '7' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Warilda embarkation_ship_number: A69 public_note: '' | |
| 8 Oct 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 3161, 2nd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Warilda, Sydney | |
| 19 Jul 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 3161, 54th Infantry Battalion, Fromelles (Fleurbaix) |
Help us honour Lionel Sydney Roderick McDonald's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
Lionel Sidney MCDONALD, (Service Number 3161) was born on 31st October 1886 at Glen Innes. He began working with the NSW Government Railways as a temporary porter in the Traffic Branch at Darling Harbour in December 1913. In the new year he became permanent but never progressed beyond that role before he was granted leave to join the Expeditionary Forces on 5th August 1915. He enlisted at Liverpool the next day. Being unmarried, he nominated his father living at Macquarie Fields as his next of kin.
He was allotted to the 10th Reinforcements to the 2nd Battalion. He embarked HMAT ‘Warilda’ at Sydney on 8th October 1915. McDonald was taken on the strength of the 2nd Battalion at Tel-el-Kebir Egypt on 5th February 1916 but transferred to the 54th Battalion a week later. After further training he embarked ‘Caledonian’ at Alexandria on 19th June for passage through Marseilles to the British Expeditionary Force in France.
He was reported wounded in action on the night of the 19-20 July 1916 – the Battle of Fromelles. A year later the report as changed to ‘wounded and missing’, and by 4th August 1917, more than a year after the battle, a Court of Enquiry resolved that he had been killed in action.
In 1921 Corporal John Henry Wilson (3170) reported:
‘In reference to the late 3161 Pte.L.S.R. McDonald I might state that I was his section commander and was with him practically to the last. We amongst others were taken Prisoners at Fleur Baix (or Fromelles as others name it). He was taken out of the trench just before me as I was practically the last taken from where we were. We were taken back along the sap to the German Front Line that was then on passing through their front line and happened to see his helmet with his number showing. I immediately looked around me to see if anything had happened to him and there he was lying, face downwards, dead. As far as I can remember the position would be immediately in front or just a shade to the right of where the 54th Battalion attacked.
I might say that at the last time I saw deceased alive he had his identification disc around his neck also other papers and wallet that would have led to his identity. I was thinking that he might have been buried by the Germans with their own dead behind his front line. This is not much to go by but I do hope that it leads to success for his people’s sake.
P.S. This all happened on 20/7/16.’
McDonald has no known grave and is remembered at the VC Corner Memorial, Fromelles, France.
- baseed on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.
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