Fonds RC0095 - Wallace McClung Donnelly

Wallace McClung (Bud) Donnelly was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan on 15 October 1920, the son of Jesse and Mable V. Donnelly. He was a student at Kirkland Lake Collegiate in 1932-34. His family moved to Hamilton, Ontario in 1934 where he attended Westdale Secondary School. At McMaster University he studied sciences and enrolled in the Canadian Officers' Training Corps.

In February 1942, he went overseas with the Royal Canadian Dragoons, achieving the rank of Captain. From February to December 1944, he was a wireless instructor at Britain's Royal Military College in Sandhurst. He then joined the Phantom regiment. In March 1945 in Holland and Belgium, he was a member of the No. 5 Squadron of the British Army's Special Air Service Brigade (also known as the Belgian SAS). After World War II, he continued his military career, first with the Kent Regiment in Niagara. He took further training and was stationed at: Camp Borden; Rivers, Shilo, and Churchill, Manitoba; Fort Benning, Georgia; Great Britain; Dartmouth, Nova Scotia; and Petawawa, Ontario. In April 1947 the Belgian government awarded Donnelly the Croix de Guerre avec palme for courage and bravery in the liberation of Belgium. He retired from the Canadian military in January 1951. For further information on Donnelly's military career, see: John Burman, "Bud's Role Pivotal in Fighting Nazis", Hamilton Spectator, 2 December 2005, pp. A1, A8; and Buzz Boudon, "Bud Donnelly, Soldier and War Hero 1920-2005", Toronto Globe and Mail, 6 January 2005, p. R5.

Donnelly was a real estate appraiser and broker in Hamilton. He married Jean Blackburn of Ottawa (who served as an ambulance driver in London, England during World War II). They had two children, Judy and Jennifer. Donnelly died of emphysema on 29 November 2005.