Name: Robert Gray MacDonald Rank: Flight Sergeant Service Number: R/124691 Service: 405 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force Date of Birth: February 19, 1917 Place of Birth: Vancouver, British Columbia Date of Enlistment: August 28, 1941 Place of Enlistment: Halifax, Nova Scotia Age at Enlistment: 24 Address at Enlistment: 149 Whitney Ave, Sydney, Nova Scotia Height: 5 feet, 8 inches Eye colour: Gray Hair colour: Dark Brown Occupation: Chauffeur, Taxi Driver Next of Kin: Sarah Smith MacDonald (Wife) Religion: United Date of Death: March 12, 1943 Age: 26 Cemetery: London Cemetery and Extension, Longueval, Somme, France Grave: Plot 13, Row E, Grave 30 Commemorated on Page 184 of Canada’s Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on April 15 Robert Gray MacDonald was the son of Douglas Duncan (1876-1951) and Pearle Olive (Sribner) Macdonald (1893-1955), of Middleton, Nova Scotia. His father was born in Wilburn, Cape Breton County, Nova Scotia, and his mother was born in St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA. Robert completed Grades 1 through to 11 at the Wilburn School, and Grade 11 to 12 at Hillsdale High in Michigan in 1938-1939. Robert married Sarah Smith MacKinnon on January 29, 1940, in Wilburn, NS. He enjoyed swimming, reading, hunting and sailing. He loved softball and occasionally played baseball and practised target shooting. Robert’s brother Sergeant E. MacDonald (Service No. F/854) was serving at the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps’ No. 7 General Hospital in Birmingham, England during WWII. Robert’s aircraft was shot down by a night fighter at Mondrepuis, France, 2 miles North of Hirson while returning from a raid on Stuttgart, Germany. Six of the crew survived; five of which evaded capture. Flight Sergeant Robert Gray MacDonald was initially interred at the Municipal Cemetery in Mondrepuis near Maubeuge, France, and was subsequently re-interred at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission London Cemetery and Extension at High Wood near Longueval, Somme, France. The third largest of the Somme battlefield cemeteries, London Cemetery contains 3,872 First World War burials. Although the cemetery primarily contains WWI graves, 165 Second World War soldiers were reburied there after WWII, including Flight Sergeant Robert Gray. These graves are together in one section at the far end of the cemetery.