A portrait of undying love
For first time in 75 years, spinster of 101 sees face of fiance killed in WWII after Facebook appeal to trace his picture
SHE last saw his face more than 75 years ago when he was shipped off to fight in the Second World War.
But the 101-year-old fiancée of a Scots veteran can once again look into the eyes of the childhood sweetheart she lost after finding a photograph of him through Facebook.
Devoted Ena MacDonald, who never married, had tried and failed to find an image of her betrothed, Sergeant Neil Macdonald, in the decades after he died a hero during the Allied invasion of Italy on September 9, 1943.
Instead, she clung on to her memories, describing the soldier – from the Hebridean island of Harris – as the ‘kindest of men with the bluest of eyes’.
But after telling her story last week to friend Elizabeth Ritchie, 48, at her Aberdeen care home, a call went out on social media for a photo to be found.
Thanks to council workers and historians, retired teacher Miss MacDonald, a Gaelic speaker originally from North Uist, now counts a picture of her 27-year-old fiancé in his smart Army uniform among her treasured possessions.
Miss MacDonald said: ‘Seeing Neil’s photo has meant the world to me. I would like to thank everyone for their help and kind wishes.’
Mrs Ritchie said: ‘Ena was very emotional when she saw Neil’s picture, and so happy to see her true love. Ena remembers Neil being a good singer who would sing to her in Gaelic.
‘She said Neil would get told off for always sitting next to Ena in Portree High School in Skye, where they met, because if you came from an island at that time you went to school in Portree and went home on the main holiday.
‘She remembers him fondly and talks of the letters they wrote to each other during the war. She said he would sign off, “Your loving husband soon to be”. She talked of the best man Neil had chosen, Archie MacLean of North Uist, who also died in the War, and of the three times that she met up with Neil in London while he was in the Army.’
Mrs Ritchie’s son Duncan, who is studying accordion at Aberdeen City Music School, now plans to compose an Air in memory of all the Harris men killed in the war. Their names are immortalised on the Harris War Memorial, including Mr Macdonald and Mrs Ritchie’s great-uncle, Neil MacLennan.
The photo of Mr Macdonald was found by island resident Katie Ann MacKinnon, who researched his war record after reading Miss MacDonald’s story on a community Facebook group page.
She found that a Harris Roll of Honour compiled a few years earlier included three servicemen named Neil Macdonald, all of whom had lost their lives.
There was a photo of only one, who was identified as Miss MacDonald’s fiancé by a relative.
Mrs MacKinnon, 62, from Stockinish, said: ‘It has been a really happy ending.
‘I saw the story on Facebook and remembered that a roll of honour had been published for the men who had died in the War. There were three Neil Macdonalds but only one had a photo. Luckily it turned out to be the right one.
‘I sent it to Elizabeth Ritchie who showed it to Ena, who after 75 years remembered his face.
‘I found a nephew of Mr Macdonald, who confirmed that the photo was the right one.
‘Ena said she recognised the photo after all this time, describing Neil as the kindest of men with the bluest of eyes, and that had always stayed with her.’
The love story emerged only days after a service in Italy to mark 75 years since the key battle for Salerno – a port city south-east of Naples – which began on September 9, 1943. Sgt Macdonald died fighting with the Royal Hampshire Regiment on the first day of the battle.
The regiment had landed as part of a 55,000-strong British and US force, transported on 700 ships.
It followed an invasion of US tanks days earlier on the southern tip of the Italian mainlaind.
But the Allies became scattered along the coastline as German troops fought back with flamethrowers and machine guns, and it took them six days to gain a foothold. They finally reached Naples, 30 miles up the coast, on October 1.
By the end of the battle for Salerno, codenamed Operation Avalanche, more than 900 British troops had been killed, 2,000 were missing and 4,000 wounded.
The offensive proved pivotal, liberating Italy from Benito Mussolini, and tying up German forces as the D-Day landings were launched.
‘Photo has meant the world to me’ ‘Kindest of men with bluest of eyes’