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Five brothers beat war odds

When assessing the World War I contribution of the McDonald brothers, there is one obvious conclusion - they beat the odds.

They received many injuries between them, some having a lasting impact, but the remarkable fact is that five brothers went to war, and five came home again.

Bob McDonald, of Mandurah, whose father Donald was one of the five sons of Miles and Mary Anne McDonald, said the family had moved to WA from Victoria in 1907.

They settled on a bush block on the outskirts of what was to become Gnowangerup.

There were nine boys and three girls in the family, and the property has remained in family hands since.

Thomas McDonald was the first to enlist, signing on in January 1916 and sailing from Fremantle in June as a member of the 44th Battalion.

He found himself in the thick of the action in Belgium in July 1917 and was shot in the chest.

After hospital treatment in England he sailed for WA in December that year and was discharged in March 1918.

In August 1916, William became the second brother to sail for the war. Aged 19 when he enlisted, he was the youngest of the brothers, became a member of the 51st Battalion and later transferred into Thomas' 44th Battalion.

He received severe gunshot wounds to his right arm in June 1917.

The resulting medical report brought to light the remarkable fact that he had been allowed to enlist despite already missing three fingers from his left hand.

He, too, returned to WA.

In November 1916, the third brother, Donald, sailed from Fremantle with the 16th Battalion.

His arrival at the front lines was delayed because of mumps and he finally reached France in April 1917.

In October he was in action in Belgium when an exploding shell buried him in a trench. Donald had severe shrapnel wounds.

After time in hospital he was sent for signal training, before rejoining his battalion in September 1918, not returning to WA until 1919.

Miles McDonald, aged 32 when he enlisted, was the oldest of the brothers to fight.

He sailed in September 1917 to join the 10th Light Horse Regiment.

The regiment was involved in the bloody battles to break the Gaza-Beersheba line, helped capture Jerusalem and fought on to Damascus.

Turkey surrendered in October 1918, but after the end of the war elements of the regiment were involved in putting down an Egyptian uprising in 1919.

It was during this action that Miles received arm and a head wounds, which turned septic.

Miles did not sail for home until July 1919.

Bob McDonald said his uncle Miles had shell shock and was partially deaf after the war and continued to suffer from his wounds until he died prematurely.

The fifth McDonald brother, Andrew, sailed for the war in May 1918, joining the 28th Battalion in the final push for victory over Germany, and managed to return to WA without injury.

Bob McDonald said the brothers went their separate ways after the war, and the family made their mark farming at places as diverse as Coorow, Gnowangerup, Karridale and Leonora.