Thain Wendell MacDowell Thain Wendell MacDowell , VC , DSO ( September 16 , 1890 – March 27 , 1960 ) , was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces . Overview . Thain Wendell MacDowell was born in Lachute , Quebec on 16 September 1890 . His early days were spent in the Brockville area , where he was educated at Brockville Collegiate Institute . He later attended the University of Toronto , where he joined the Canadian Officer Training Corps as an Officer Cadet of The Queen ' s Own Rifles of Canada . After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1914 , he enlisted and was commissioned in the 38th ( Ottawa ) Canadian Infantry Battalion ( now perpetuated as The Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa ( Duke of Edinburgh ' s Own ) ) . During service in France in 1916 , he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order on the Somme , and the following year , promoted to Major , he won the Victoria Cross at Vimy Ridge on April 9 . Victoria Cross . One of four soldiers to earn the Victoria Cross in the Battle of Vimy Ridge , ( the others were Ellis Wellwood Sifton , William Johnstone Milne and John George Pattison ) , MacDowell was 26 years old , and a captain in the 38th ( Ottawa ) Battalion , Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War when he was awarded the Victoria Cross . On 9 April 1917 at Vimy Ridge , France , Captain MacDowell , with the assistance of two runners ( company orderlies , Pvts . James T . Kobus and Arthur James Hay , both of whom were awarded the DCM for their part ) reached the German position ahead of his company . After destroying one machine - gun nest he chased the crew from another . MacDowell then spotted one German going into a tunnel . At the base of the tunnel , MacDowell was able to bluff the Germans to think he was part of a much larger force , resulting in the surrendering of two German officers and 75 German soldiers . He sent the prisoners up out the tunnel in groups of 12 so that Kebus and Hay could take them back to the Canadian line . Seeing that he had been fooled , a German prisoner grabbed a rifle and tried to shoot one of the runners . The German was then shot and killed . Although wounded in the hand , MacDowell continued for five days to hold the position gained , in spite of heavy shellfire , until eventually relieved by his battalion . He was promoted to the rank of Major following his actions at Vimy Ridge . Later life . He later achieved the rank of Lieutenant - Colonel of the Frontenac Regiment from Napanee , Ontario . After the war , Colonel MacDowell served as an executive of several mining and chemical companies , and from 1923 - 1928 he acted as private secretary to the Minister of National Defence . He was placed on the retired list as a Lieutenant - Colonel . In July 1929 , he married Norah Jean Hodgson , of Montreal . He and his wife , first lived in Toronto , but moved to Montreal in 1931 . He had two sons , Thain H , and Angus J , who still live in Montreal ( 2011 ) . His wife died on November 1 , 1983 . He died in Nassau , the Bahamas , on 28 March 1960 . Colonel MacDowell is buried at Oakland Cemetery ( R . R . 3 , Brockville , Ontario , Canada . Anglican Section 3 . Lot 112 ) in the Richardson family plot . The grave is marked by a headstone . Colonel MacDowell ' s Victoria Cross medal is on display at the University of Toronto , Toronto , Ontario . There is a plaque in his honour on corner of Highway 2 and Church Street in Maitland , Ontario .