Thain Wendell MacDowell
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Thain Wendell MacDowell, VC, DSO (September 16, 1890, Lachute, Quebec -March 27, 1960, Nassau, Bahamas), was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
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One of four soldiers to earn the Victoria Cross in the Battle of Vimy Ridge, (the others were Ellis Wellwood Sifton, William Johnstone Milne and John George Pattison), MacDowell was 26 years old, and a captain in the 38th (Ottawa) Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
On 9 April 1917 at Vimy Ridge, France, Captain MacDowell, with the assistance of two runners (company orderlies, Pvts. Kebus and Hay) reached the German position ahead of his company. After destroying one machine-gun nest he chased the crew from another. MacDowell spotted one German going into a tunnel. At the base of the tunnel meet the Prussian Guard, MacDowell was able bluff the Germans to think he was part of a much larger force. Two German officers and 75 German soldiers surrendered to him. He sent the prisoners up out the tunnel in groups of 12 so that Kebus and Hay could take them back to the Canadian line. Seeing that they had been fooled, a German prisoner grabbed a rifle and tried to shoot one of the runners. The German was then shot and killed.
Although wounded in the hand, MacDowell continued for five days to hold the position gained, in spite of heavy shellfire, until eventually relieved by his battalion. He was promoted to the rank of Major following his actions at Vimy Ridge. He later achieved the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel of the Frontenac Regiment, Napanee, Ontario.
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Thain Wendell MacDowell was born in Lachute, Quebec, on September 16, 1890. His early days were spent in the Brockville area, where he was educated at Brockville Collegiate Institute. He later attended the University of Toronto, graduating with a B.A. in 1914. He enlisted immediately after graduation, and was commissioned in the 38th (Ottawa) Canadian Infantry Battalion (now perpetuated as The Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa).
Colonel MacDowell was a member of the 38th (Ottawa) Battalion which lives on as the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa. The Cameron Highlanders (www.camerons.ca) are a Canadian Forces Primary Reserve Light Infantry Regiment located in Cartier Square Drill Hall. Also see University of Toronto "Soldier's Tower": http://www.alumni.utoronto.ca/groups/tower.htm#memorial
During service in France in 1916, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order on the Somme, and the following year, promoted to Major, he won the Victoria Cross at Vimy Ridge on April 9. After the war, Colonel MacDowell served as an executive of several mining and chemical companies, and from 1923-1928 he acted as private secretary to the Minister of National Defence. He was placed on the retired list as a Lieutenant-Colonel, and died in Nassau, the Bahamas, on March 28, 1960. Colonel MacDowell is buried at Oakland Cemetery (R.R.3, Brockville, Ontario, Canada. Anglican Section 3. Lot 112) in the Richardson family plot. The grave is marked by a headstone.
Colonel MacDowell's medal is on display at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario. There is a plaque in his honour on Corner of Highway 2 and Church Street in Maitland, Ontario.
[edit] Reference
- "On the Battlefields", From the archives of "Maclean's Magazine", Edited by Michael Benedict, Penguin Canada, 2002 ISBN 0-14-301341-6, page 100
