Masculinity, Intimacy, and Mourning: A Father’s Memoir of His Son Killed in Action in World War II

Sandy Ruxton recently wrote an article about Alex's memoir of his son, Ian Lester MacDonald, who was killed in action in Germany in February 1945. Whilst the main focus is on fatherhood, there is also quite bit in there about the relationship between the family living in Chile and interconnections with Scotland.

Alex and Dorothy MacDonald, Sandy’s grandparents, were active in the British and Chilean communities and had many friends in both. He worked as Senior Partner in Deloitte’s, before becoming Managing Director of Odeon, a subsidiary of E.M.I. (Electrical & Musical Industries), a job he much enjoyed because of his great love of music. Outside work, he designed several renowned golf courses and wrote a guide to trout fishing in Chile, finally published posthumously by his grandson Ian Ruxton, Sandy's brother in 2017 (MacDonald and Ruxton 2017b). They were very involved in charitable work. For example, she helped set up a soup kitchen after one of the serious earthquakes in Chile, obtaining an M.B.E for her efforts. They were both very committed to supporting Britain during the Second World War, and he was Chairman of the War Effort, for which he received a C.B.E. in 1943.

Below you can find the article written by Sandy Ruxton that refers to the book ‘In Memory of Lieutenant Ian Lester MacDonald of the Black Watch, 1923-1945’ which you can also find HERE

genealogy-04-00059-v2.pdf

Download PDF • 316KB

Alex and Susan MacDonald

Ian MacDonald portrait