The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1920-02-20
August 1, 1918:
"The duties to which he has bee.

The duties to which he has been
sd rs to require his
ST. les at all hours Of the day and
night for long periods at great risk
Of health. In fact. on one occasion.
due to his unusual zeal in the dis
charge Of his duties under the trying
weather conditions Of last winter, he
incurred severe sattack Of pneu-
monia which.nearly resultey fatally"
Major Macdonald knew something
Of the Importance Of getting the car
goes across. He had made two trips
over himself in the summer of 1917,
when first called to duty before en-
toring the Division of Maintenance
and Repairs at Hoboken. His first
trip was made in June, when as quar-
termaster of the transport Montana
he accompanied the first convoy Of
American ships to take troops to the
aid of the Allies in France. The
Montana was later torpedoed. He
also crossed to st. Nazaife and was On
duty there for some time, in August,
1917.
After the armistice Major Macdon-.
aid was called upon to show a differ
ent kind of courage-7-a moral courage
that was quite as important as the
physical courage that had been need
ed at Hoboken. Even before the ar
mistice work was begun on the re-
delivery of the army's ships to their
owners. This had to be done through
the Shipping Board, which was the
agency which chartered the vessels
turned over to the use of the mill
tary. For a long time Major Mac
donald was the sole representative Of
the War Department in this work and
upon his shoulders fell the burden Of
seeing that Uncle Sam was not over
charged for the wear and tear in
CURED by the transports during their
war service. OF late some of that
burden has been lifted with the re-
organization CT the re-delivery serv-
ice Of the Joint Board of Army, Navy
and Shipping Board Officials, but he
still holds position of great respon-
sibility as officer in charge of the In
spoction Branch of the Re-delivery
Section. He was promoted to field
rank last spring.
Under date of June 10, 1919, Col
H, S. Kerrick says:
In my opinion Major Macdonald
has absolutely and without fear or ia
vor, and without regard to his person
al comfort and working hours under
excessive mental and physical stress
and strain, protected the interests Of
the government in most consistent
and courageous manner. / use the
word courageous because as a rep
resentative Of the War Department,
which pays the bills, he has been the
buffer and through sheer determin-
alton and logic has, probably in every
case, caused the other members Of
the board to reduce their estimate on
the cost of reconditioning. In my
opinion Major Macdonald, individual
ly and as member of the board, has
reduced the lump sum agreements
$1,Ooo,ooO on upward Of
about It's ships he has redelivered.
Major Anderson, chief of the Con-
struction Branch, Transportation
Service, as present at a meeting OF
the joint board at which Major Mac
donald succeeded in reducing the
lump sum agreed upon by other mem
bers by $4,000 on that particular
ship, and he expressed to me his pro
found admiration for Major Macdon-
AIDS work as a member of this board,
and stated that he was probably saw
ing the government $4,000 day by
virtue of his services and that his
work was eminently satisfactory. I
believe he meant exactly what his
statement implies"
After praise like that further COM
ment would be superderogatory.