MACPHERSON, Donald

Donald was born 1914 in Newport to Archibald & Mary of Carisbrooke. He died during an air raid on 19th April 1942 aged 27 in Malta.

Malta's position in the Mediterranean was of Allied strategic importance. Heavily fortified, the island was never invaded, but was subjected to continual bombardment & blockade between Italy's entry into the war in June 1940 & the Axis defeat at El Alamein in November 1942. At the height of Axis attempts to break Malta's resistance in April 1942, the island & her people were awarded the George Cross by King George VI.

The earth is shallow on Malta & many joint or collective burials were made as graves had to be cut into the underlying rock. Donald is buried in the Pieta Military Cemetery in Malta with Lance Corporal Alfred JAMES also of the 1st Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment & Private Henry LIVINGSTONE 1st Battalion Cheshire Regiment. The Headstone bears the Family Inscription: "SOME CORNER OF A FOREIGN FIELD THAT IS FOR EVER ENGLAND" "FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH".

Donald is also remembered on the Carisbrooke War Memorial.