Lieutenant-Colonel Don MacLauchlan
Calgary Highlanders

There is no doubt that MacLauchlan never succeeded in hiding his fears well enough to give his men the impression that he was courageous–a possible great failing in a field commander. He had voided the front even though, ironically, he found himself under fire, or close to it, several times … In later years [Brig] Megill would recall: ‘It was quite genuine battle exhaustion that knocked him out.

(Bercuson, Battalion of Heroes, 180)

Born on 19 July 1905 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and raised in Alberta, Donald George MacLauchlan joined the Calgary Highlanders out of high school in 1921. His enthusiasm for soldiering and time devoted to militia training cost him his job as a newspaperman just a year before the outbreak of war. He went overseas as a company commander in August 1940 and became second-in-command in England. He succeeded Lieutenant-Colonel J. Fred Scott in February 1942, although his appointment appeared tenuous.

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