The recent death of Col J.G.(Jock) McDonald ended a long and important era in the Ordnance Corps of the Defence Forces. He was 87. Although he retired in 1977 as Director of Ordnance, his influence lived on. The degree of respect and affection in which he was held by all ranks who knew him was unique. At annual dinners of the Ordnance Corps, when asked to speak by his current successor, he was invariably introduced as the "real director". If this remarkable accolade had any effect on Jock, he didn't show it, but it was richly deserved.
John G. McDonald was born on March 26th, 1912 in Falcarragh, Co Donegal, the son of a local doctor. He graduated from UCD as a mechanical and electrical engineer in 1934 and was commissioned into the fledgling Ordnance Corps, then under its first director, Colonel Tom Mc Grath.
After attending the Military College of Science at Woolwich in 1935 he went on to hold key ordnance appointments in a long and distinguished career. He gained a distinction on his command and staff course in the Military College in 1950. He was appointed as director of his corps in 1964 and promoted to the rank of colonel.
Throughout his career he was involved in or oversaw equipment procurement. It was at his insistence that detailed factory and firing acceptance tests were instituted and carried out. At the time it was an innovative and unusual practice both inside the Defence Forces and in procurement procedures in the country at large. It was to give value for money long before such concepts were common currency. Despite very tight budgets he oversaw the purchase of Brandt mortars from France, Bofors anti-tank weapons from Sweden and rifle and machine gun programmes from Belgium. All of these equipments proved themselves over a generation of use. In this and other areas Jock developed the systems and procedures still in use today.
He was also well aware that well-trained technicians were the backbone of a technical corps and it was with great pride that he assumed command of the new Army Apprentice School when it opened in Naas in 1956. At the time the Irish education system was not capable of producing the technicians required by the military. Jock's aim was to produce good technicians who were also good soldiers. It was an aim achieved with distinction. The young men and later women who graduated were a credit to the Defence Forces while they served, and to Irish industry after they finished their service. Jock's stoical demeanour did not betray his disappointment when he attended the standing-down parade of the school in 1998 when it was closed as part of the Defence Forces reorganisation. When the flag was lowered for the last time, the Commanding Officer presented it to Jock. Within a year it was to drape his coffin.
From the foundation of the State, ordnance personnel have been responsible for dealing with sea-mines washed ashore and with other unexploded munitions. This task took on a new urgency in the early 1970s with the advent of the car bomb and other improvised explosive devices. Jock saw to it that the Ordnance Corps was trained and equipped to deal with this modern menace. Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) became a day-to-day reality for corps personnel and the procedures developed by them achieved such a degree of ingenuity and sophistication that EOD Courses conducted at the Ordnance School have been attended by bomb disposal personnel from European countries and from further afield for over 20 years.
Jock possessed a keen and practical engineering mind, a quiet but impressive manner, a dedication to hard work which he inspired in others and a social ease which he could share with all ranks. For decades he worked untiringly for the St Vincent de Paul Society and it was typical of the generosity and organisation of the man that an envelope containing a no-doubt substantial donation to the society accompanied his cap and sword on his coffin as he was finally laid to rest.
He is survived by his wife Alice, children Frank and Mary and his grandchildren. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilis.