Pte. Morley MacDonald 435329

50^th Canadian Infantry Battalion/ 10 Canadian Infantry Battalion

Regimental Number 435329

Morley Horace MacDonald was born on February 18 1889 in Warsaw, Ontario. He was the son of a farmer turned cabinet maker, John J. Macdonald and his wife Hannah (Payton).   The family lived on Lot 10 on the Second Concession.

Morley was living in Alberta and was employed as an electrician when he enlisted in the 50^th Canadian Battalion in Calgary, Alberta on June 14^th, 1915.  He was 25 years old at the time.  He stood 5 feet, 7 inches tall and had a dark complexion, brown eyes and dark hair.  Morley was a Methodist, unmarried and had no previous military experience.  He listed his father, John, who was living in Lakefield, as his next of kin.

Morley trained at Sarcee Camp for three months before sailing overseas with a draft of soldiers for England.  Upon arriving he was taken into the 23^rd Reserve Battalion at West Sandling to await placement to a battalion already engaged at the front.  While at camp, Morley came down with a bad case of bronchitis and required a week in the hospital.  After being discharged on December 10^th he spent another month in the reserve camp before being assigned to the 10^th Canadian Infantry Battalion, which was already fighting in France.

Morley arrived in France on the 21^st of January and stayed at the Brigade Depot before joining the 10^th Battalion in a relatively “quiet” sector of trenches near Ploegstreet, Belgium on February 3, 1916.   Morley would have settled into the routine of four-six days in the trenches, then the same duration in reserve and another four-six days in the rest billets out of the line.  Though no major actions were fought in the Ploegstreet sector during this time, the trenches were still dangerous, with the battalion suffering daily casualties due the enemy shelling, and sniping.  They also sent out night patrols into no man’s land to assess German defenses, gather intelligence and to take the occasional prisoner.  Throughout the months of February and March 1916, Morley would have used this time to become acquainted with trench warfare.

Morley and the 10^th Battalion moved to a more active sector near Ypres in early April.  The battalion followed the same four-six day trench regimen.  The Ypres sector had seen horrendous fighting over the previous two years, and even a “quiet” four days in the trenches could result in over twenty casualties.  Morley spent two months in and out of the trenches near Ypres, until he, himself became a casualty.

May 29^th was the third day in a row for the trenches for the 10^th Battalion.  The Official War Diary for the battalion describes the day as follows:

“In trenches. Wind N.W. Fine day rain or night. No enemy artillery activity. Little bombing or rifle fire.”  

Despite there being little enemy activity, Pte. Morley McDonald was one of three men wounded that day.  He was hit by gunfire in the left arm causing a flesh wound.  His wound was dressed in the field and he proceeded through the usual route of medical attention.  First to the Canadian Filed Ambulance, then to the Casualty Clearing Station and then to the Canadian Hospital in Boulogne by May 30^th.  He was a week in Boulogne before being transferred to another hospital in Edmonton, England on July 7^th.  He was discharged two weeks later to the 9^th Reserve Battalion.

Morley remained in England in the reserve camps until being sent back to France on July 21^st.  He joined the 10^th Battalion on August 28^th in the Somme area where the Canadians were getting ready to take part in huge offensive there.     Morley spent a week in the rear training before his battalion took its place in the front line in front of the German position of Monquet Farm on the night of September 9^th. 

Their three days in the front line was not without action, as the 10^th Battalion held off a German attack of 200 men that made its way to within 35 yards of their trenches.  Morley’s battalion left the front on September 11^th, and spent eight days in the rear before entering the casualty clearing station after experiencing difficulties with his left arm, the one which had been wounded four months previously.  He was sent to England and was admitted to Moore Barracks in Shorncliffe.  Morley was discharged to the Canadian Casualty Assembly Centre on September 29^th with a temporary D.1 rating, meaning that he was not fit for duty. He remained in England while his arm mended before being returned to the 10^th Battalion in France on April 18^th 1917.

MacDonald arrived after the attack on Vimy Ridge, but in time to serve with the 10^th Battalion in the Canadian attack on the village of Arleux.  Though the assault was not as big as the Vimy show, the 10^th suffered heavy casualties advancing through machine gun fire to capture the small town on April 23^rd. 

Having made it through this deadly engagement, Morely’s next major engagement came in August 1917 during the major attack on Hill 70 and the city of Lens.  On August 15^th the 10^th Battalion was in the first wave that assaulted Hill 70, capturing their objectives in four hours.  Morley would have seen heavy fighting in the next three days as his battalion continued to push forward in bite-and-hold attacks.  The fighting was severe and accounted for over 50% casualties within the battalion, though Morley came out of the battle unscathed.

Morley and the survivors of the Hill 70 attacks spent the next couple of weeks out of the line, resting and refitting their shattered unit.  After receiving reinforcements that brought the battalion up to fighting strength, the 10^th moved back into the trenches near Lens during the night of September 13th.  Morley spent the next four days in the support trenches where his battalion was lightly shelled, but luckily, experienced no casualties.  On the 17^th of September Morley and the 10^th took their place in the front line trenches in Lens and almost immediately came under attack.  In the early morning a German bombing (grenade) party destroyed a section of trench killing one tenth battalion man, and wounding ten others.   The next day, the 18^th was described in the Battalion War Diary as follows:

“Battalion in Front Line Positions LIEVIN

Our artillery shelled the enemy’s support and rear areas at intervals during the day. The enemy’s artillery were fairly active shelling the forward area around the blue line during the morning. In the evening he shelled our rear areas with 5.9’s. There was very little aircraft activity during owing to poor visibility. Casualties 3 O.R. [other ranks] wounded”.

One of the wounded men was Morley MacDonald. During the course of the day he was hit in the left wrist by a random bullet.  His wounds were dressed in the trenches and he was sent out of the line, first to the casualty clearing station and later to a French hospital on the Channel coast before landing in England on September 23^rd, 1917.

Morley was treated for his bullet wound at several English hospitals for near to six months before being discharged to the Casualty Clearing Depot on March 8^th 1918.  Though he was deemed recovered, Morley continued to be plagued by symptoms such as stiffness in his wrist as well as a persistent tingling sensation.  He remained on several reserve bases in Southern England, still not deemed fit enough to be sent to the front.  By May, it seems that Morley had had enough of base life and wen A.W.L. “Absent Without Leave” from May 5-10^th.  This act brought with it a loss of eight day’s pay and ten days of Field Punishment No.2, which consisted hard labour and being shackled when not working.

Shortly after his punishment sentence was up, Morley was transferred to the 21^st Alberta Reserve Battalion (still in England), which was one step closer to returning to the front.  This was not to happen as on July 8^th Morley was admitted to the hospital at Bramshott with measles.  After close to two weeks, he was discharged from hospital to the convalescent depot to recover for another month.  During this time, Morley began to complain of difficulties with his arm and wrist. 

He never proved fit enough to return to the trenches, and lingered in England, bouncing to various bases and details until the war’s end.   He was shipped back to Canada on November 22^nd 1918, arriving in Halifax a week later.  Morley reported to Kingston, Ontario where he was discharged from further military service on December 27^th 1918.

Sources

Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1891. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Census Place: Dummer, Peterborough East, Ontario; Roll: T-6363; Family No: 18

Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1901. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Year: 1901; Census Place: Dummer, Peterborough (east/est), Ontario; Page: 4; Family No: 36.

Archives of Ontario. Registrations of Births and Stillbirths – 1869-1913. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Series: MS929; Reel: 101.

Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Registration of Marriages 1936; Reel: 19-999.

Canada. "Military Service File of Morley MacDonald." Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa: Record Group 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 6753-31. Item Number 147927.