Thain Wendell MacDowell

On the morning of 9 April 1917, Captain Thain Wendell MacDowell found himself at Vimy Ridge with only two runners beside him and a German strongpoint ahead. What followed became one of the most extraordinary Canadian acts of courage of the First World War. Thain Wendell MacDowell, VC, DSO, was born on 16 September 1890 at Lachute, Quebec, and grew up in the Brockville and Maitland area of Ontario. He studied at Brockville Collegiate Institute and later attended the University of Toronto. When the First World War transformed civilian life across Canada, MacDowell moved rapidly from student and militia officer to overseas soldier. His official Canadian Expeditionary Force personnel record identifies him with the 38th Battalion and records his enlistment at Ottawa in 1915. Collection Search Serving with the 38th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, MacDowell reached the Western Front in 1916. His reputation for courage was established before Vimy Ridge. During the Battle of the Somme on 18 November 1916, he led his company in the assault on German positions around Desire Trench. Under fire, MacDowell pressed forward against machine-gun positions that were obstructing the Canadian advance. His men captured three machine guns and approximately fifty prisoners, and MacDowell remained at his post even after being wounded. University of Toronto Alumni For that action he received the Distinguished Service Order. The official London Gazette citation, published on 10 January 1917, opened with the words "For conspicuous gallantry in action" and credited his courage and initiative in leading the attack, capturing the machine guns and prisoners, and continuing to assist the operation after being wounded. The Gazette It would have been a distinguished combat record even if his story had ended there. It did not. Only a few months later, MacDowell returned to the front and faced the action that would permanently attach his name to the Battle of Vimy Ridge. On 9 April 1917, the Canadian Corps launched its assault on Vimy Ridge. MacDowell, then a captain commanding B Company of the 38th Battalion, became separated from most of his men during the advance. Only two runners, James T. Kobus and Arthur James Hay, remained with him as he approached a powerful German position. Instead of waiting for reinforcements, the three continued forward. MacDowell attacked the machine-gun defences with grenades, put the guns out of action, and entered a large underground dugout. University of Toronto Alumni Then came the moment that made the action remarkable. Deep inside the position, MacDowell encountered a force vastly larger than his own. With only two soldiers supporting him, he created the impression that a much greater Canadian force was waiting outside. The bluff worked. Two German officers and seventy-five men surrendered. The prisoners were brought out in small groups so that the reality of the Canadians' tiny force would remain concealed for as long as possible. Canada MacDowell's own battlefield messages reveal just how precarious the position remained. He reported mud-clogged rifles, very little ammunition, German machine guns still operating nearby, wounded men and continuing heavy shell fire. Yet he understood the tactical importance of the captured dugout and urged that it be held and strengthened. University of Toronto Alumni For his actions at Vimy Ridge, MacDowell was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest British and Commonwealth award for gallantry in the presence of the enemy. His official citation, published in the London Gazette on 8 June 1917, praised his "most conspicuous bravery and indomitable resolution." It recorded the capture of two machine guns, two officers and seventy-five men, and noted that although wounded in the hand, he continued to hold the position for five days under heavy shell fire until relieved by his battalion. Canada The scale of what MacDowell had accomplished becomes clearer when the numbers are stripped to their essentials: three Canadians had forced the surrender of more than seventy enemy soldiers and neutralized a machine-gun position during one of the most important Canadian attacks of the war. His action also helped the 38th Battalion advance toward its objectives around Hill 145, the dominating height of Vimy Ridge. Canada MacDowell was also Mentioned in Despatches, an official recognition published in the London Gazette on 1 June 1917. Unlike his Victoria Cross and Distinguished Service Order, the Mention in Despatches did not carry a full individual narrative citation. Surviving 38th Battalion honours records associate it with distinguished and gallant service and devotion to duty. On his Victory Medal ribbon, the distinction was represented by the authorised bronze oak-leaf emblem. 38th Battalion His First World War service was represented by the British War Medal 1914-1920 and the Victory Medal 1914-19, the latter carrying his Mention in Despatches emblem. His surviving medal group also includes the King George VI Coronation Medal 1937 and the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal 1953, alongside his Victoria Cross and Distinguished Service Order. Contemporary documentation of the group records precisely those six awards. Thousand Islands Life MacDowell survived the First World War and continued his association with military service. He later attained the rank of lieutenant colonel and was appointed Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of The Frontenac Regiment. His postwar life also took him into public service and business. During the 1920s he served on the staff of Canada's Minister of National Defence, an appointment also documented in Canadian Orders-in-Council records, before pursuing senior roles in mining and industry. Collection Search Yet it is Vimy Ridge that continues to define Lieutenant Colonel Thain Wendell MacDowell VC, DSO in Canadian military history. His story is not simply one of a decorated officer charging forward under fire. It is a story of judgement under extreme pressure. At the Somme he demonstrated aggressive leadership while wounded. At Vimy he combined physical courage with deception, initiative and tactical awareness, turning an almost impossible three-man situation into the capture of a major enemy position. MacDowell died in Nassau, the Bahamas, in March 1960 and was buried at Oakland Cemetery near Brockville, Ontario. His connection to Maitland is commemorated by a historic plaque, while his name remains closely associated with the 38th Battalion and Canada's victory at Vimy Ridge. Veterans Affairs Canada More than a century after Vimy, the question that makes Thain Wendell MacDowell's story so compelling remains the same: what would most men have done when they discovered that the army they were pretending to command consisted of only themselves and two runners? MacDowell kept going. That decision earned him the Victoria Cross and secured his place among Canada's most remarkable First World War soldiers.