Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Lieutenant Ean Lawrence McDonald VRD (Service No:F2669) initially enlisted in the Naval Reserves as an Ordinary Signalman in 1938, before enlisting in the RAN as a Signalman on 4 September 1939. Signlaman McDonald was on board HMAS Waterhen (aka 'The Chook') - part of the Scrap Iron Flotilla operating with the Tobruk Ferry Service - on 31 June 1941 when it was sunk following damage by Dive Bombers. Commissioned on 1 September 1942, Lieutenant McDonald worked on surveys in New Guinea and Northern Australia. Following the Termination of his Appointment on 24 December 1945, Lieutenant McDonald continued to serve with the Naval Reserves for many years.

Ean was born in Melbourne, Victoria in 1918, eldest of three children of Edward George McDonald (b1892 in Midlothian, Scotland) and Alice Eva (aka Eva) Galloway (nee Symonds; b1899 in Albany, Western Australia). Edward (a Steward in the Mercantile Marines) and Eva married in 1918 in Melbourne, where they settled and raised their family and Edward worked as a Steward on Australian and British Ships, and as a House Painter from the late 1920s. The Great Depression saw Edward and Eva drive to Western Australia with their children, and Edward initially worked odd jobs, including as a Gold Prospector. The family had settled in Perth by 1936, and Edward worked as a House Painter and as Examiner of Apprentice Painters and Decorators.

Ean attended Perth Boys' School and was a Sea Scout in 1938 when he enlisted in the Naval Reserves. In 1942 in Perth, he married his first wife Claire (Mardi) Arundel Hatton (b1925 in Perth, Western Australia).  Following his Discharge from the RAN in 1945, Ean and Mardi settled in Perth, where Ean commenced studying Architecture at Perth Technical College, and at the same time running a poultry farm. In 1951, Ean was President of the Archtectural Students' Association and winner of the EG Cohen Medal. Ean practised as an Architect - in 1961 designing the Memorial to WWI servicemen at Blackboy Hill in Greenmount - until the 1970s when he opened Golden Medal Sportswear. Ean was sub - branch President of the Highgate RSL, a Councillor on Perth City Council, an Inventor and prolific Author, a Master Mariner, and in 1997 and 1998 was navigator for Susie Maroney on her long-distance swims. Into his eighties, Ean was a TAFE Lecturer on Navigation. In 1976 Ean and Mardi divorced - Mardi worked as a Welfare Officer, and Ean remarried to Cheryl Kimberley. Ean died in 2011.