OTTAWA, TODAY – Mr. Stéphane Ouellette, President and Chief Executive Officer, Merchant Navy Commemorative Theme Project (MNCTP), paid tribute to WWII U.S. Army Nurse Lt. Annette ‘Nettie’ MacDonald, as part of celebrating Women’s History Month in Canada.

Lt. Annette MacDonald was born on August 26, 1898, in Williamstown, Ontario, Canada, to parents Mr. John Kenneth (Gardenfield) MacDonald and Mrs. Flora Margaret MacDonald. Early in life, due to her mother’s poor health and as the eldest child of nine, heavy family responsibilities fell upon her. However, when her siblings reached appropriate levels of maturity, Lt. MacDonald moved to Montreal to pursue a career in nursing. Lt. MacDonald then moved to New York City, where she continued her studies and training, and for a brief period provided nursing services to the infant future President George H.W. Bush. With long standing ties with the Bush family, when corresponding with Lt. MacDonald during his vice–presidency, (then) V.P. Bush would address her lovingly as

Miss Mac. 

Immediately after the attacks on Pearl Harbour, Lt. MacDonald joined the U.S. Army, and was sent to Britain in the spring of 1943. During the allied campaign in Western Europe (1944–1945), Lt. MacDonald served in Belgium, Holland, and Germany. For a brief period, during the Battle of the Bulge, Lt. MacDonald and other members of her unit were taken prisoners of war by the German Army. After her release, she was to be transferred to the Pacific theatre, however, Japan was shortly defeated thereafter, and instead returned to the United States on the same ship her father had returned to Canada at the end of WWI.

After the war, Lt. MacDonald completed her Bachelors and Masters in Nursing (1953–54) at New York University. She later worked in various U.S. veterans’ hospitals. In 1968, Lt. MacDonald retired and purchased a home in Williamstown, where she remained until her passing on June 14, 1996.