Canadian Virtual War Memorial
David Macewin Donn
In memory of:
Chief Engineer David Macewin Donn
May 14, 1940
Antwerp, Belgium
Military Service
52
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
S.S. Ville de Bruges (Antwerp, Belgium) (221844)
Additional Information
June 22, 1887
Dundee, Scotland
Son of Robert Donn and Mary Nicol, de Hamilton, Ontario). Husband of Henrietta Dickie of Hamilton, Ontario. Father of Doreen, Kearn, Etty and David.
In the First World War he served as a Sergeant Major in the Scottish Horse of the British Army. On March 6, 1919, during the armed conflict in Northern Ireland from 1919-1921, he was sent there as a sapper with the Railway Troops of Royal Engineers, regimental number WR-151619.
On May 14, 1940, the Ville de Bruges was transporting European refugees to New York when it was bombed and set on fire by a German aircraft off the Scheldt river near Doel, Belgium. Several passengers and crew perished. The captain had no choice but to beach his burning ship, which was demolished in 1952.
Commemorated on Page 127 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.
Burial Information
HALIFAX MEMORIAL
Nova Scotia, Canada
Panel 17.
The HALIFAX MEMORIAL in Nova Scotia's capital, erected in Point Pleasant Park, is one of the few tangible reminders of the men who died at sea. Twenty-four ships were lost by the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War and nearly 2,000 members of the RCN lost their lives. This Memorial was erected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and was unveiled in November 1967 with naval ceremony by H.P. MacKeen, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, in the presence of R. Teillet, then Minister of Veterans Affairs. The monument is a great granite Cross of Sacrifice over 12 metres high, clearly visible to all ships approaching Halifax. The cross is mounted on a large podium bearing 23 bronze panels upon which are inscribed the names of over 3,000 Canadian men and women who were buried at sea. The dedicatory inscription, in French and English, reads as follows:
1918-1945
IN THE HONOUR OF
THE MEN AND WOMEN
OF THE NAVY
ARMY AND MERCHANT NAVY
OF CANADA
WHOSE NAMES
ARE INSCRIBED HERE
THEIR GRAVES ARE UNKNOWN
BUT THEIR MEMORY
SHALL ENDURE.
On June 19, 2003, the Government of Canada designated September 3rd of each year as a day to acknowledge the contribution of Merchant Navy Veterans.
Digital Collection
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Details
Newspaper clipping – From the Toronto Telegram May 1940. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me -
Details
Newspaper clipping – From the Toronto Telegram May 1940. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
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