Brenda McCafferty, LASA Archivist
Lieutenant Donald Patton McDaniel
“A healthy young man with brown eyes and brown hair. He was 5’11” tall and weighted 188 pounds. Described as a big, strong man, jovial, smiley and devoted to the military.”
Known as “Deep” to his friends, Donald McDaniel was born in Calgary on December 31, 1916. He was the eldest of three children born to Dorsey Patton and Daisy Rogers who were married in Detroit, Michigan USA. His siblings included Rod (died 2019), Perry (died 2022), and sister Jean.
Donald grew up on a large farm of the High River Wheat and Cattle Company. He was a horseman. The family moved to Calgary in 1928, and Donald graduated from Western Canada High School in 1936. He attended Mount Royal College, the University of Alberta, and spent time working as a law clerk in a Vancouver B.C. law firm.
McDaniel graduated law school in 1941. He married fellow graduate Mary Payne of Red Deer in June 1942. A son, Forbes Roderick, was born August 10, 1943, while he was overseas.
According to the Evergreen & Gold yearbook, he actively participated in the Boxing & Wrestling Club, Debating, Law Club, President of the History Club, and as a member of Delta Upsilon fraternity. Throughout his time in university, he was also in the C.O.T.C. (U. of A., Canadian Officers Training Corps).
Many notable classmates in the 1942 “Lexnova Club” (one of a few law classes to be given a name) include: William McGillivray (became Chief Justice of AB), Neil Douglas Medhurst (a fellow classmate killed in action), Alan M. Brownlee, William Haddad, William Howard, Alex Smith (who went on to be a law school professor), and D.E. Lewis (who wrote the oil & gas law text).
McDaniel articled at the Smith, Egbert and Smith law firm to one of Alberta’s most famous lawyers, A.L. Smith, K.C. In accordance with a resolution of the Benchers concerning students being called on active service, he was admitted to the Bar after completing a shortened period of articles by Chief Justice Tweedie on May 11, 1942. Having completed three years as an articled clerk in Vancouver, BC, he was also admitted to the Law Society of British Columbia on July 7, 1941.
He was a member of the Calgary Highlanders, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps. His regiment guarded and patrolled along the German border in Groesbeek, Netherlands. During this period, in which soldiers were two weeks on, one week off, small groups of men were sent out to collect information about German positions and there were occasional firefights. It was recorded in the Calgary Highlanders War Diary that two men of D Company were killed December 1, 1944, during a reconnaissance mission along the German border. McDaniel was likely one of the two men killed at age 27. Two weeks later he was buried at the Jonkerbos military cemetery in Nijmegen. On July 31, 1945, Donald was later reburied at the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery grave. On his tombstone is the following:
AT THE GOING DOWN
OF THE SUN
AND IN THE MORNING
WE WILL REMEMBER HIM
In a letter from McDaniel dated June 9, 1942, he informed the Secretary of the Law Society of Alberta that his admission certificate had been damaged in the mail and asked if it could be replaced when he returned home. He was clearly proud to be a member of the Alberta Bar.
Donald McDaniel’s portrait painting is included among the Museum of the Regiments 240 panels that make up the Mural of Honour. The Mural of Honour commemorates Canadian service personnel from each of the three branches of the Armed Forces. The original painting was installed in the atrium of The Military Museums in Calgary, Alberta in November 2008.
Neil Douglas Medhurst
Neil was born on October 16th, 1918, in Lethbridge. The son of Charles Frederick “Fred” and Arthie May Medhurst. Neil had two brothers Charles Frederick “Bud” and Donald who was six years his junior. Older brother Charles was wounded during the war. The younger Donald Herbert “Don,” a Medicine Hat lawyer (later QB Justice Medhurst) made it through training and was transferred to Prince Edward Island before the war ended in 1945. On December 12, 1942, Neil married Phyllis Maria Brocklebank and they welcomed a son, Bryan Edward Francis, in 1943 with whom he was only briefly acquainted.
Neil Medhurst graduated from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Arts in 1940 and from law school in May 1941. His classmate Donald Patton McDaniel was also killed in action (Dec. 1, 1944). Of note, on the day Medhurst died D.P. McDaniel recounted seeing Medhurst earlier in the day at base camp.
Neil articled in Calgary to Colonel Fred Scott (a pioneer lawyer and veteran of both world wars) of the Scott, Milvain & Manning law firm before embarking overseas with the Stormont, Dunas and Glengarry Highlanders R.C.I,C. Regiment, 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. He was called to the Alberta Bar on June 23, 1943, during a two-week break as he was passing through Calgary. Neil went to great lengths to arrange his call to coincide with his short stay in Calgary. He wanted to secure his standing as a lawyer and to ensure he had a job upon his return.
According to the Law Society, a student could be admitted to the Bar with only ten months of articles if he joined the army and went on active service. In these cases, the final practice exam was omitted.
After enlisting Medhurst was assigned to the Royal Canadian Corp of Signals, a combat support corps of the Canadian Army. He received his training in Kingston, Ontario and was sent overseas in April 1944. He participated in the June 6, 1944, D-Day landing in France and from there travelled up the northern coast to the Netherlands. Of note, the well-known Edmonton lawyer Spud Moir (U. of A. Gold medal graduate in 1946), was his superior commander.
Medhurst died on October 9, 1944, in Antwerp during Operation Switchback at the Battle of the Scheldt when a shell struck his army jeep and took artillery fire. He was twenty-five years old and only seven days shy of his twenty-sixth birthday.
Neil was temporarily buried at Monique de Bree-de Clerck then moved to the Adegem Canadian War Cemetery in Belgium where the graves are cared for to this day by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Medhurst was one of 6,367 Canadian casualties of the Battle of Scheldt.
HIS MEMORY LIVES WITH US
He is also memorialized on the War Memorial at Foremost, Alberta (between Lethbridge and Medicine Hat).
