Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

MacDONALD (aka McDonald, Macdonald) Alexander Sydney  #2957 49th Battalion

Alex McDonald (his file contains various versions of his surname) was born in 1894, the only son of John Thomas and Margaret McDonald, at Sandgate. Alex’s father died when he was four years old and his mother remarried to become Margaret Mitchell. The family lived at Connaught Street in Sandgate and Alex attended Sandgate State School, less than one block from his house.

When Alex enlisted on 18th September 1916 he gave his address as Sandgate and stated his occupation as farmer. Given that he is listed on the Strathpine Roll of Honour, it is probable that he was farming in the Pine Rivers district along with two mates, Arthur Wolno and George Taylor. Wolno and Taylor are also listed on the Pine Rivers Roll of Honour and all three are listed on either of the two Sandgate Honour Boards. According to the Roll of Honour Circular completed by Alex’s mother, all three embarked together as reinforcements for the 49th Battalion, and the embarkation roll for the 7th reinforcements of the 49th Battalion confirms this.

It must have been a hard decision for Alex to enlist. His attestation papers clearly state that he was his mother’s sole support. A letter from Margaret Mitchell states that she has had no support from her second husband since 1905. The latter half of 1916 saw an impassioned debate playing out in Australia regarding conscription. Alex as a sole support for his mother and the fact that he was in a reserved occupation (Farming) would have exempted him from the draft, even if the plebiscite had passed. In spite of his obligations at home, Alex was perhaps persuaded by his mates Arthur and George to enlist. Alex allotted 3/- of his daily pay to his mother when he embarked on the “Marathon”. The 7th reinforcements of the 49th Battalion had departed Australia on 27th October 1916, barely a month after Alex had enlisted.

Upon arrival in Plymouth on 9th January 1917, Alex and his mates were marched out to Codford Training Camp on Salisbury Plain. Alex was hospitalised for three weeks in February and March with pleurisy, then again was in hospital in the middle of May. This time the diagnosis was influenza and Alex’s mother was informed by telegram that he was dangerously ill. By the time that Alex was discharged from hospital, the rest of the reinforcements from Codford had already joined the 49th.

Alex finally joined his battalion on 26th July 1917. Alex first went into action with the 49th at Polygon Wood in September. In October the battalion was providing carrying parties to support units in the line at Broodseinde Ridge when he received a gun-shot wound to the neck. Alex was evacuated to Liverpool and from there progressed through convalescence at Hurdcott, where he went AWL for two days over the new year period. Alex rejoined his battalion in the rest area around Poperinghe at the beginning of February 1918.

When the German spring offensive was launched on 21st March 1918 the 4th Division along with the other four Australian divisions were still in their winter billets near Ypres. Operation Michael caught the British by surprise with the rapid gains that were made. All the old gains of 1916 on the Somme, taken at such cost to the British, were back in German hands. The British 5th Army collapsed under the onslaught ( The General in charge of the 5th was sacked), Pozieres captured in 1916 at the cost of 23,000 Australian casualties was retaken on 25th March and the vital city of Amiens was threatened. To plug the gaps in the British line and to defend Amiens, British Commander Sir Douglas Haig called upon the troops he thought would be able to meet the threat; the Australians.

By 26th March, the 4th Division was on the move. First travelling by buses and then reverting to forced marches, two of the division’s brigades, the 12th and 13th (which included the 49th) marched 34 kilometres through the night to arrive at an exposed defensive line between the Amiens Albert Road and a railway line overlooking the village of Dernacourt. On the morning of the 5th April, battalions of the 12th Brigade were attacked by a force of roughly five times their strength of German storm troopers. For the first time in the war, the Australian line broke and enemy troops poured into the gap. The 4th Divisional command ordered a counter attack later that day to drive the enemy back. The 52nd and 49th Battalions of the 13th Brigade charged down the slope from the Dernacourt Ridge and succeeded in driving the Germans back beyond the village suffering staggering casualties in doing so.(Casualty figures for the 49th; 62 KIA, 160 wounded) Unfortunately Alex McDonald was one of the many casualties of the 5th April; Killed in Action.

There is no note in Alex’s file regarding his burial; if in fact this did occur. Alex’s mother made no inquiries with the Red Cross but the Roll of Honour Circular contains some lines about Alex and the fact that he was acting as stretcher bearer which would indicate that she had received news from either the Company Commander or one of Alex’s mates. It can be assumed that Margaret Mitchell received a war pension of around 15/- a week.

In 1938, after repeated delays due to design and funding, the Australian National Memorial was dedicated by King George VI at Villers Brettonneux. The memorial contains the names of over 10,000 Australian servicemen who died in France during the war and have no known grave. Alexander McDonald is among those 10,000. Neither of Alex’s mates with whom he sailed to England in 1916 made it home. The stories of George Taylor and Arthur Wolno are related below.

Alexander's parents were John Thomson MacDonald and Margaret Scott. Alexander served three years in the Moreton Regiment
He left Australia with two of his school comrades, Privates Arthur Wolno/Walno/Woolnought [3016] and Robert/George Robert Taylor [3008], both of whom were killed. Alexander was killed in action 5 April 1918, age 24.