Sergeant/Air Gunner, Walter Thomson, McDonald, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He was lost on an Air Operation, aged 21, on the 16th July 1941. He had been born in Jedburgh and was the son of Helen and the late David McDonald of Forthill Avenue, Jedburgh. He had been educated at Jedburgh Grammar school and Kelso High School before going to work for the North British Rayon Company in Jedburgh. He enlisted in 1939 and after training joined 115 Squadron R.A.F. which operated the Vickers Wellington medium bomber from R.A.F. Marham, Norfolk. He was lost on a raid to Duisberg, Germany when his aircraft was shot down by a German nightfighter near Limberg, Netherlands. All the crew perished and are now buried in Jonkerbos War Cemetery, Netherlands. Sergeant McDonald’s Headstone is inscribed ” Our One Consoling Hope Is That We Shall Join With Thee one Day “. ( Photograph of Sergeant McDonald is courtesy of J. D. Smith ).
