Lieutenant-Colonel Bruce Macdonald
Essex Scottish Regiment

This case, the first of its kind to be tried in a Canadian Military Court, is of considerable importance, not only in that it concerns the murder of a large number of Canadian prisoners of war; but also, in that it is the first occasion …in which an effort will be made to establish, not only the immediate responsibility of a high ranking officer, for atrocities committed under his order, but also his vicarious responsibility for such crimes, committed by troops under his command, in the absence of a direct order.

(Macdonald opening address, Kurt Meyer on Trial, 97)

Born on 2 December 1902 in Rose Bay, Nova Scotia, Bruce John Stewart Macdonald held a law degree from the University of Alberta and was a prominent lawyer in Windsor, Ontario. Having belonged to the Essex Scottish Regiment since 1929, he went overseas as a company commander but later returned for instructional duties. Having missed the Dieppe Raid which virtually annihilated the regiment, Macdonald became second-in-command and succeeded Lieutenant-Colonel John Mothersill in May 1943.

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