The Extremely Rare WW2 ‘Great Escape’ Interest, American P.O.W. Medal & Bronze Star Group of 5 to ‘Padre Mac’ – Reverend Murdo Ewen MacDonald, whose ‘fiery sermons’ as Chaplain of Stalag Luft III have been linked directly to the planning of the Great Escape. Initially serving as a ‘jumping padre’ with the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade in 1942, in addition to his inspirational preaching and the hiding of spoil from the digging of the escape tunnels, he had in fact already made his own three-day ‘escape’ previously during his initial transfer from hospital to P.O.W. camp, only to be recaptured and sent to the more secure camp as a result. After the ‘Great Escape’, and choosing not to take part himself, he was moved to another compound to provide pastoral care to American Troops, who had been without a Chaplain, and for which he received his American awards for his ‘inspiring leadership and example’, an extremely unusual and rare combination of awards to a ‘Padre’, and unique in connection to the ‘Great Escape’, comprising: 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; War Medal 1939-45, these unnamed as issued; U.S.A., Bronze Star, reverse engraved (Murdo E. McDonald) with original case of issue, riband bar and lapel badge; U.S.A., Prisoner of War Medal, reverse engraved (Murdo. E. MacDonald); Group loose, generally extremely fine, and an extremely rare combination (5) U.S.A.: Bronze Star: London Gazette: 14 December 1947 – original citation includes: ‘Captain Murdo E. Macdonald, British Army, rendered outstanding service as Chaplain to American prisoners of war in Stalag Luft III, Germany, from September 1943 to April 1945. A British Paratrooper but likewise an ordained minister, he volunteered for the duty in which he tended the need of many depressed prisoners, during the long weary months of their captivity. He also conducted well-attended classes in psychology and philosophy, and concerned himself with the mental health of the Compound. He was exceptionally effective in his counsel to individuals suffering from mental depression and deterioration, and in at least two cases was directly responsible for preserving the sanity of those who were mentally ill. Captain Macdonald’s inspiring leadership and example has contributed materially to the betterment of individuals under his care and reflects great credit upon himself and the British armed forces.’Reverend Murdo Ewen MacDonald was born on 28 August 1914 on an isolated croft on the Isle of Harris, Scotland, and was educated on Harris itself and at Kingussie School. He soon after studied arts and divinity at the University of St. Andrews, and while there, he excelled in sport –becoming the Scottish Universities middle-weight boxing champion, and a friend of John Brown, father of Gordon Brown (later the British Prime Minister), who was also training for the ministry.Ordained in 1939 in Portree, he enlisted for service at the outbreak of hostilities in WW2, being given the rank of Chaplain to the Forces, 4th Class, with the Royal Army Chaplains Department on 19 April 1940. Initially serving as a chaplain with the Cameron Highlanders in Aruba, but soon after he responded to an appeal for volunteers for the newly-formed 1st Parachute Brigade in late 1942, becoming padre to the 2nd Battalion as a ‘jumping padre’ and parachutist. Required to display ‘commando-level’ fitness, as well as tactical ability and the resilience to work independently in the field, ‘Padre Mac’ was the ideal candidate given his background as a boxer. Indeed, he is said to have commented that, ‘To be a good minister one has to be tougher than a commando and a paratroopers. I know because I have been both.’ He took part in Operation Torch in North Africa with the 2nd Battalion, under Lieutenant-Colonel John Dutton Frost (later of ‘Arnhem’ fame), and was wounded in action and subsequently taken prisoner of war. Padre Mac took part in the disastrous raid on Oudna airfield, where his participation in the front-line fighting was reported second-hand to Private Leonard ‘Bill’ Bailey, 2nd Bn A.A.C., who recalled giving him three Mills bombs prior to the raid, saying, “I think you should have a few of these Sir!”. He went on in his account to say that ‘After the raid I asked about the Padre, but they (his friends) said the last time they saw him he was standing on a tank and dropping a bomb inside.’ This detail is not corroborated (or was, perhaps, deliberately omitted) in MacDonald’s own autobiography, however. Included in his own account – ‘Padre Mac – The Autobiography of Murdo Ewen MacDonald of Harris’, MacDonald describes the incident as follows:‘It was mid-afternoon. During a lull in the incessant bombardment, we decided to have a go and break through. Naturally, our commanding officer, Lt. Col. John Frost, led. By chance I happened to be just behind him. We didn’t know that a German machine-gunner was covering us from one of the hills above. Fortunately, he missed the Colonel, but he got me and two others just behind him. The bullet struck me in the left biceps, nicking the bone on its way out. My colonel stopped in his tracks…and…with anxiety asked, “Murdo, my dear boy, are you dead?” I opened my eyes and grinned at him. “No sir, I have a lot of damage to do yet… The second wound I got as we attempted to make another breakthrough at dusk. It was not a bullet that left a gaping hole this time, but a piece of shrapnel in my right hand.’Having been captured, and subsequently recovering from his wounds, ‘Padre Mac’ was flown from Tunis to Naples – and having snuck an incendiary time-pencil in the sling of his left arm, a British doctor travelling with him activated upon landing, and then destroyed the plane, after all passengers and crew had safely disembarked. Avoiding death by ‘firing squad’ in the hours which followed, he took a train to Rome, and onwards to Frankfurt, spending 19 days under interrogation in Dulag Luft I. Finally leaving the camp, and without having given away and details save him name, number and rank, he was transferred to a convalescent hospital in Klausterine for surgery, and was offered repatriation through the Red Cross on humanitarian grounds – a decision which he prayed upon – but ultimately refused. Justifying this gallant decision, he later wrote: ‘However conceited this choice may sound, I felt that as a paratrooper and a minister of religion I was in a special position to exercise a pastoral ministry among prisoners of war’. And so it would prove.At the time of his transfer, ‘Padre Mac’ met a fellow paratrooper named Sergeant Hut who was determined to make his escape, and after many heated discussions the two men agreed to try to escape on the way to whichever camp they would be sent. With a heavy armed Kriegsmarine guard as their escort, the men boarded a train – armed themselves only with a flask of tea, some sugar, and some sleeping pills. Offering the guard a cup of tea, the men surreptitiously deposited some sugar (and sleeping pills) into the cup, after which the guard fell asleep after about 30 minutes. This was their moment, and Sergeant Hut jumped from the moving train to make his escape via a lavatory window. When the train made its next stop, ‘Padre Mac’ did the same, and lay low until the train had moved away out of sight. He subsequently evaded capture by German forces for some three days in total, but was ultimately recaptured. ‘Padre Mac’ would spend two and a half years in prison during WW2, largely in the infamous Stalag Luft III in Zagan, Poland, arriving in early April 1943, and where he would go on to directly influence and inspire the events which led up to the ‘Great Escape’.Given his own previous attempts at making an escape from German captivity, Murdo MacDonald – as chaplain of the camp – gave regular ‘fiery sermons’ to his flock – which included Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, the mastermind of the Great Escape, and Harry ‘Wings’ Day, another important instigator. Indeed, Macdonald is reported as having seen it as the ‘Christian Duty’ of all troops to try to escape. Once the tunnels begun to be dug, Padre Mac was a regular ‘penguin’ hiding tunnel sand in his trouser legs, helping to move it elsewhere, while also taking shifts as a ‘stooge’ watching the German guards. He also had a privileged position as chaplain, allowing him to speak relatively freely to his fellow internees in order to disseminate plans and information. Kind and warm to his flock, and sympathetic to their needs, he still, however, retained a quiet toughness and hard edge, and is recorded as having had few regrets about giving a severe beating to one particular ‘public school educated superior officer in the British Army’ for displaying an ‘offensive attitude’ towards him in the camp. Almost the ideal army padre, ‘Mac’ was passionate, direct, self-deprecating and reputedly had ‘little truck for aristocratic snobbery’ or ‘pious religiosity’.'Padre Mac’ was grief stricken when 50 of his fellow prisoners and friends were later executed by the Gestapo, on Hitler’s direct orders, having been recaptured after their famous escape on 25 March, 1944 – later called the ‘Great Escape’. Indeed, he had himself initially intended to take part in the break out, but was convinced not to escape, given the ongoing pastoral needs of other men in his ‘flock’, later saying:‘More than 100 of us wanted to escape. Just before I was due to go, the Americans asked me to become their chaplain. My place was taken by a Dane. He was one of the 50 executed. I knew all those men. My best friends was among them. It was the saddest day of my life.’‘Padre Mac’ took part in the memorial services in the North and South compounds following the ‘brutal, barbaric crime’ of the men’s murders at the hands of the Gestapo, and was later transferred in September that year to a separate compound of American Troops, who had hitherto been without a chaplain, and provided them with same pastoral care, for which he later received his Prisoner of War Medal and Bronze Star for his ‘inspiring leadership and example’. He also accompanied these men through the infamous ‘Death March’ of January 1945, as the Russian advance closed in on the prison camp. During the march, ‘Padre Mac’ attended to the sick and dying numerous times, tending to his flock for some 62 miles in freezing temperatures and with scant warm clothing or provisions, until they were finally put into box-cars for the remainder of the journey to Stalag VII-A.After the war he served as minister at Partick Old Parish Church, Glasgow, between 1947 and 1949, and then at St. George’s West Parish Church, Edinburgh, until 1963. He was appointed professor of practical theology at Trinity College, University of Glasgow, from which he retired in 1984, and he had been a friend of Gordon Brown, later Prime Minister. Considered to be ‘one of Scotland’s greatest preachers’ as noted in his Church of Scotland obituary, he died in Glasgow in 2004, at the age of 89.

Estimate: GBP 3000 - 5000