Major-General Sir Donald Jay McMullen (27 July 1891 – 12 November 1967) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

who served in both of the World Wars. He was the Director General of Transportation of the British Expeditionary Force in France from 1939 to 1940 and the Director General of Transportation at the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

from 1941 to 1945. A 1911 graduate of the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

, McMullen participated in the

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

Salonika Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

and Sinai and Palestine campaigns of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. After the war, he was seconded to the

Egyptian State Railways Egyptian National Railways (ENR; ar, السكك الحديدية المصرية, Al-Sikak al-Ḥadīdiyyah al-Miṣriyyah) is the national railway of Egypt and managed by the parastatal Egyptian Railway Authority (ERA; ar, الهيئة الق� ...

, and he served in Palestine during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt. On the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in September 1939, he was appointed the Director General of Transportation of the BEF. He became Director General of Transportation at the War Office in 1941, and remained in that position for the duration of the war. After the war he served with the British Control Commission for Germany as the Deputy Chief of the Transport Division until his retirement from the Army in 1948.

Early life

Donald Jay McMullen was born in Putney, London, England, on 27 July 1891, the son of John Alexander McMullen. His father served in the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

during the

, for which he was made a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the

1919 New Year Honours The 1919 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Times'' in Jan ...

. McMullen was educated at Bradfield College and the

. He was commissioned as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the

on 20 July 1911. After completing his Young Officer Training at the School of Military Engineering at

Chatham, Kent Chatham ( ) is a town located within the Medway unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Gillingham, Rochester, Strood and Rainham. The town developed around Chatham ...

, he commenced a course in mechanical engineering at the Great Northern Railway's Doncaster Works. Like his father, he was interested in aviation, and obtained a Royal Aeronautical Society Certificate as a Qualified Aeroplane Pilot in 1913.

First World War

On the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, McMullen was recalled from his mechanical engineering course and became a staff officer at the

. In early 1915 he was assigned to the 117th (Railway) Company and sent to the Greek island of Mudros, which had been selected as an advanced base supporting the Gallipoli campaign. After the campaign ended the 117th was sent to the

Macedonian front The Macedonian front, also known as the Salonica front (after Thessaloniki), was a military theatre of World War I formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of German ...

in February 1916. McMullen then went to Egypt, where a military railway was constructed across the

Sinai Desert Sinai commonly refers to: * Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God Sinai may also refer to: * Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...

in support of the Sinai and Palestine campaign. He was promoted to temporary

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on 25 February 1916, which became substantive on 26 June 1917, and acting

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

on 27 February 1917. He was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

(DSO) in the

1918 New Year Honours The 1918 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Times'' in Ja ...

Between the wars

After the war, McMullen was seconded to the

. He married Evelyn Frances Packer in 1922. They had two daughters and a son. From 1 January 1930 to 1 October 1934, he was assigned to the Railway Training Centre at Longmoor as an instructor. During his time there the Longmoor Military Railway line to

Liss railway station Liss railway station is a stop on the Portsmouth Direct Line, serving the village of Liss in Hampshire, England, down the line from via Woking. As a small station, for most of the day there is one train each way (to Portsmouth and London) ...

was completed in 1932, and a passenger service to

Bordon railway station Bordon is a town in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It lies in the interior of the royal Woolmer Forest, about southeast of Alton. The town forms a part of the civil parish of Whitehill which is one of two contiguous villages ...

was opened. He conducted exercises on railway and port operations, and taught the basics of military movement control to Staff College cadets. In January 1935, McMullen assumed command of the 1st (Fortress) Company, which was stationed at

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

. It was his first assignment with no connection to railways, although he advocated the construction of a railway line from North Front to

Europa Point Europa Point (Spanish language, Spanish and Llanito: Punta de Europa or Punta Europa), is the southernmost point of Gibraltar (the southernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula being Punta de Tarifa 25 km southwest of Gibraltar). At the end of ...

, which was later built. His oldest daughter won the

Royal Gibraltar Yacht Club The Royal Gibraltar Yacht Club, formerly the Gibraltar Yacht Club, was established by officers of the Royal Navy in 1829. It was one of the first yacht clubs founded outside of Britain. British monarchs and Gibraltarian governors have been patro ...

's Ladies' Cup, and the two enjoyed

fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of ho ...

with the

Royal Calpe Hunt The Royal Calpe Hunt of the British Crown Colony of Gibraltar originated in 1812 as the Civil Hunt. The fox hunt was initially a civilian endeavour that began when a pair of English foxhounds were imported to Gibraltar. The hunts took place across ...

. After 18 years as a major, he was promoted to

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

on 1 April 1935. McMullen returned to the Middle East on 1 January 1936 as Assistant Director of Transportation, Egypt, Palestine and Trans-Jordan, with the local rank of

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

. In April the

Grand Mufti of Jerusalem The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem is the Sunni Muslim cleric in charge of Jerusalem's Islamic holy places, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The position was created by the British military government led by Ronald Storrs in 1918.See Islamic Leadership i ...

declared a

general strike A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large co ...

. Arabs attacked Jewish settlements and communications in Palestine. The railways were particularly vulnerable. McMullen organised Royals Engineers units to maintain and repair the lines. He relinquished his command in the Middle East on 1 January 1937. For his services, he was made an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

1937 Coronation Honours The 1937 Coronation Honours were awarded in honour of the coronation of George VI. Royal Honours Order of the Thistle * The Queen Royal Victorian Chain * The Queen * Queen Mary * Clive, Baron Wigram Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) * The Queen ...

. In July 1937, McMullen became the commandant of the Railway Training Centre at Longmoor. He oversaw preparations for a war in which great demands would be placed on transportation. The Supplementary Reserve (SR) headquarters at Longmoor was increased to three sections, with one each for railways, docks and movement control. An SR docks group was raised at York from the four railways companies, and one from the

Port of London The Port of London is that part of the River Thames in England lying between Teddington Lock and the defined boundary (since 1968, a line drawn from Foulness Point in Essex via Gunfleet Old Lighthouse to Warden Point in Kent) with the North Sea ...

and other port authorities in the south of England. The SS ''Applepie'' was acquired for stevedore training.

Second World War

On the outbreak of the

in September 1939, McMullen was appointed the Director General of Transportation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), with the rank of

brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

. A line of communications (LOC) was established from ports in western France to the BEF advance base in north eastern France. This was mainly supported by two regular, two SR railways companies and one militia operating companies that worked closely with the French (

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...

). Railway operations continued with aplomb in the chaos of the

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...

, and the SNCF lost cohesion only after the German Army overran its headquarters. For his services, McMullen was promoted to the substantive rank of colonel on 1 July 1940, with seniority backdated to 1 April 1938. and advanced to a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the

1940 Birthday Honours The 1940 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of The King, and were ...

. His citation, written by Major General

Wilfrid Gordon Lindsell Lieutenant General Sir Wilfrid Gordon Lindsell (29 September 1884 – 2 May 1973) was a senior British Army logistics officer in the Second World War. Early life and military career General Lindsell was born in Portsmouth, a son of Colonel Rob ...

, read: McMullen was appointed Director General of Transportation at the War Office, a position he held for the duration of the war. He was given the acting rank of

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

on 15 May 1941, the temporary rank on 15 May 1942, and the substantive rank on 16 November 1944, with seniority backdated to 15 June 1943. The Royal Engineers Transport Service grew from 500 regular and 3,500 SR troops before the war to more than 146,000 personnel. McMullen oversaw the construction of the Haifa-Beirut-Tripoli railway and the extension of the Western Desert Railway from Mersa Matruh to

Tobruk Tobruk or Tobruck (; grc, Ἀντίπυργος, ''Antipyrgos''; la, Antipyrgus; it, Tobruch; ar, طبرق, Tubruq ''Ṭubruq''; also transliterated as ''Tobruch'' and ''Tubruk'') is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near th ...

to support the Western Desert campaign. Ports in Libya were rehabilitated to support the advance of the

British Eighth Army The Eighth Army was an Allied field army formation of the British Army during the Second World War, fighting in the North African and Italian campaigns. Units came from Australia, British India, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Free French Forces, ...

from

El Alamein El Alamein ( ar, العلمين, translit=al-ʿAlamayn, lit=the two flags, ) is a town in the northern Matrouh Governorate of Egypt. Located on the Arab's Gulf, Mediterranean Sea, it lies west of Alexandria and northwest of Cairo. , it had ...

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

. Railways in Iran were upgraded to support the

Persian Corridor The Persian Corridor was a supply route through Iran into Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Azerbaijan by which British aid and American Lend-Lease supplies were transferred to the Soviet Union during World War II. Of the 17.5 million long tons of U.S. Len ...

supply route to the Soviet Union. The Transportation Service supported the Normandy campaign, where it built the Mulberry harbour, and the subsequent campaigns in Belgium and the Netherlands and the

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. For his services, McMullen was created a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...

in the

1944 Birthday Honours The 1944 King's Birthday Honours, celebrating the official birthday of King George VI, were announced on 2 June 1944 for the United Kingdom and British Empire, New Zealand, and South Africa. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they w ...

and a

in the

1946 New Year Honours The 1946 New Year Honours were appointments by many of the Commonwealth Realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and to celebrate the passing of 1945 and the beginnin ...

. He was also made a Commander of the United States

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...

on 17 October 1946, and of the French French Legion of Honour.

Later life

In September 1946, McMullen joined the British Control Commission for Germany as the Deputy Chief of the Transport Division, a position he held until his retirement from the Army on 11 July 1948. He was appointed Honorary Colonel of the Engineer and Railway Staff Corps on 11 April 1948. He reached the age limit for officers to be eligible to be recalled on 27 July 1956 and was removed from the Reserve of Officers. He died in

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite t ...

, Hampshire, on 12 November 1967.

Notes

References

* * *

External links

National Portrait Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macmullen, Donald British Army major generals 1967 deaths 1891 births British Army personnel of World War I British Army personnel of World War II Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Foreign recipients of the Legion of Merit Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Royal Engineers officers