Family’s bid to get name on war memorial
Home town hope for Callander son
A woman hopes to have her war hero relative’s name added to Callander’s war memorial.
Karen Donaldson, from Scone, wants the name of her great grandfather, Kenneth John Macdonald, to be added to the town’s monument to its fallen war heroes.
Last week we told the story of Callander war hero, Corporal Donald Anderson, who was killed in action in April, 1918, while fighting for the Australian Imperial Force in France.
A portrait of Cpl Anderson was discovered by the new owners of the Coppice House guesthouse in the town.
Following that story, Mrs Donaldson got in touch with the Observer to share her great grandfather’s story of also fighting for the Australian Imperial Force during the conflict.
She and her 87-year-old mother, Dorothy Donaldson, now hope to have his name added to those already on the Callander memorial.
Mr Macdonald was the tenant farmer at Clash Farm in Callander. He emigrated to Australia in 1914 with the intention of working to raise
Camp, although it doesn’t mention him, as he was only a private, they obviously returned without him. Only officers are mentioned as missing, injured or dead. We have his medals and paperwork that goes with them.
“My granny always talked fondly of her dad and told us that she was in school in Callander at assembly singing Onward Christian Soldiers when she was taken out and taken home to be told he was dead.”
She added: ” A few weeks ago I watched a programme on TV abut the remains of soldiers found in France and how they were finally laid to rest and their relatives were traced by their DNA. I’m very interested in genealogy. My two hopes are that one day Kenneth John Macdonald’s remains are found and he is then in a marked grave, and that if at all possible he is recognised on the Callander war memorial.”
Efforts to have his name added to the Callander memorial have so far been in vain.
Mrs Donaldson has contacted Stirling Council to see what options are open to the family. She was advised to check with Stirling Archives for papers relating to the erection of the war memorial.
She said: “I went to the archives and found the notes and it appears that a request went out for names to be put on the memorial but only to those living in the Callander village boundary; letters were delivered by hand; and by this time my gran and great aunt were in Edinburgh and obviously there was no contact.”
My granny told us that she was in school when she was taken out and told he [her dad] was dead Karen Donaldson