Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Of Scottish descent, Hayward Donald was born in Mount Gambier on the 28th February 1908 to John Donald and Martha Jane Campbell. His siblings included Evelyn McLaughlan and John Dougald Gladstone. John Jnr was one of the very early enlistees to volunteer for service during WWII whilst in Darwin on the 30th October ’39, the day after the call for enlistees was made. John was allocated the number DX58, becoming a Gunner with the 2nd Field Artillery, serving in both the Middle East and later, New Guinea.
Hayward, known as Don, married Mary Margaret Lillywhite in 1932 with the young couple then living in Murray Bridge where Don worked as a painter. Don discovered that his publicly used ‘creative’ language was expensive, being charged in May ’37 and fined £1. with costs 12/6. Times were much stricter then.
Aged 32, Don enlisted at Murray Bridge, the year after his brother, on the 2nd July ’40 and was given the number SX7496 and placed in the newly formed 2/48th Battalion. He undertook training at Woodside in the Adelaide Hills before having brief pre-embarkation leave. He boarded the Stratheden on the 7th November, sailing for the Middle East where he arrived on the 17th December. Within weeks, he had several unofficial hours ‘exploring’ and was fined 10/-.
Don became one of the highly respected and feted Rats of Tobruk, ironically the term was designed by the Germans to demoralise the troops, who were living in exceptionally primitive conditions in hand-hewn dugouts, which were home for rats, flies, incessant dust and lack of comforts. In typical fashion, the Australians seized on the title, making it an enduring badge of honour to be called a Rat of Tobruk.
In May ’41 Don was part of the fierce fighting for Tobruk, with his battalion in the front line facing the salient, and again experiencing a night with minimal sleep as patrols were sent out and the men were under constant shelling of their position. By this stage the battalion was 155 men below full strength and had spent days wiring and digging in the heat and dust. Don was injured during this battle and was evacuated. His diagnosis indicated that his injury was NYD’N’ which was an euphemism for being Not Yet Diagnosed – Neurological (or Nerves). At the time, minimal understanding of what is now known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD. Don later also sustained a dental abscess, eventually being classified as not fit for undertaking field formations and the term ‘Neurosis’ was added to his record. He returned to Australia in March ’42 but was plagued by continuing back issues (Sciatica) and therefore fit only for sedentary duties. Following time at the Daw’s Road Military Hospital, Don was finally discharged on the 27th June ’45. Four months later, on the 10th October, his young brother, John was also discharged.
In peacetime, Don worked for the Railways, based at Murray Bridge. His 70-year-old father, John Snr, a retired railway man, died in an horrific sawmill accident at Puralka, Victoria in April, 46. He was working as an engine driver at the mill when a belt drive to a sawbench used to cut wood for the boiler, came off at the sawbench end. John Snr. walked over to shut off the power when the sawbench was uprooted and trapped him between the bench and the boiler. He was immediately transported in a utility truck to Mount Gambier but died of shock. He was buried in the Mount Gambier Cemetery.
Tragedy again struck when Don’s brother, John Jnr died in January ’54 aged just 42. For his previous two years being he had been totally and permanently incapacitated. He also was buried in the Lake Terrace cemetery at Mount Gambier.
Aged 64, Donald died on the 20th October ’72 and was buried in the Murray Bridge Cemetery. His service is remembered in the SA Garden of Remembrance at Centennial Park Cemetery. Mary lived a further twelve years and died in 1984. Their headstone reads ‘Remembered Always’.
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133, 2/48th Battalion.