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Page THE HERALD My Obituary Jim MacDonald was a First World War pilot One of Canadas few surviving First World War fighter punts is dead Retired RCAF Squadron- James Murdo MacDonald died Saturday April after a brief illness In Bennett Health Centre at Georgetown Memorial Hospital Halton Hills where he had resided for several years He would have celebrated his 9Bth birthday April He was a long time resident of Thlstletown now Metro Torontos Almost as many trainees and pilots were killed by the short comings of their primitive air craft as were lost to enemy airmen MacDonald claimed in his twovolume diary Fatal creches dot the diarys pages as his training proceeded from Canadas first military airfield at Long Branch Ont then on to Texas England and France Some of the goner mishaps of men and machines occurred in Texas where MacDonald trained for a while under Vernon Castle of the famous Irene and Vernon Castle entertainment team In combat at last and then a lieutenant with the Royal Flying Corps he described his view of the battle zone between Arras and Douai one of the wars most hellish moments He said the ground was shaking con No part of it is left in the form that nature and man had put it only the devil himself could fashion it Then comes his personal close- up of Oct 27 1918 This is a red letter day for me We mixed with the Huns and the sky is black with them and early in the scrap I got shrapnel and a bullet in the wrist The Hun who was after me was only about 30 yards away I could see his white teeth as he seemed to say Ive got you at tempt to evade him I lost my leader It seemed for a time that I was the only Dolphin flyer up there and that there were nun dreds of Huns after me I did some stunts those few moments that I never before had con sidered myself capable of doing and probably never will Jim MacDonald convalesced in southern France in a beautiful private mansion There he fell in love with a volunteer nursing aide She was Marguerite Margot Simonau daughter of a prominent cultured Frenchman anda woman of titled AngloIrish extraction In their whirlwind Mediterranean courtship Jim took up the violin in an effort to impress this daughter of distinguished and creative Euro peans His own Horatio youth excluded the arts Jim MacDonald At wars end and his French bride went on the Alberta prairie near Hardisty Later he became principal of the school there World War Two found him back in the service this time with the which he joined in June With the rank of squadron leader he was com officer of a number of recruiting centres With the Department of Veterans Affairs after the war he was m charge of staff training at various locations including Sunnybrook Of Highland Scottish ancestry his parents could read and speak Gaelic MacDonald was born in Portland Maine where the ly had migrated from the Maritunes in search of employ ment Jim worked his way through Dartmouth College by waiting on tables at the college cafeteria and at Mount Washington Hotel and caddymg He remembers a tip from tycoon Andrew Carnegie He emigrated to Canada to join the RFC broaden education and see the world Longtime friend retired newspaperman Bill describes Jim MacDonald as a courtly very erudite gentleman of the old school an encouraging force when I was a young man I recently had the privilege of reviewing his wartime diary Doole said I found it is one of the more graphic and more mov closeups of Canadas pioneer days in aerial warfare He said Jim a former neighbor used to hold him spell bound with the flyers recall of the days when primitive aerial bombing consisted of dropping stones from the air by the basket MAID SERVICE WHOS BEST ful There were instances too of airborne combatants firing pistols at one another Most gruesome was the ailtoo fre quent destruction of propellers by a planes own machine gun when it slipped out of sync MacDonalds wife Margot predeceased him in 1969 Their son Rorie who served with the in the Second World War lives with his wife Louise In their daughter Joan lives with husband Jack Metcalfe near Jack was a firefighter with the in the Second World War There are four grandchildren Scott MacDonald Toronto his sister Susan Mrs Doug Connor of Oakville Peter Metcalfe of Holyrood Ont and Paul Met calfe Milton district There are also six greatgrandchildren He is also survived by a dear friend of many years Doris Buck of Toronto Memorial tribute is private Mr MacDonald bequeathed his remains to the University of Torontos medicalresearch department Qt LOOK GOOD FEEL GREAT mm THATSWHO THEAWARD WINNER of the Of Gala Art Auction PREVIEW 7pm AUCTION 8pm Feature Artist Dawn HOLY CROSS CHURCH AUDITORIUM 224MiptoAvBGesnetowll V Door Prizes Patrons Door Prize Refreshments t Y or 8531070 H OXBOW BOOKS GEORGETOWN FABRICS WORK THAT BODY GEORGETOWN YARN I Presented by Beaux Arts International Ltd Graphics Oils i Sculptures CACHET CRAFTS