Colin Malcolm McDougall (1917–1984) was a Canadian author best known for his 1958

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by th ...

-winning novel ''

Execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

''.

Biography

Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

, McDougall studied at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Univer ...

before enlisting in

Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI, generally referred to as the Patricia's) is one of the three Regular Force infantry regiments of the Canadian Army of the Canadian Armed Forces. Formed in 1914, it is named for Princess Patrici ...

during

World War II 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. He was sent overseas, where he served as an officer during Canadian participation in the Italian campaign. 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, ty ...

(DSO) and was

Mentioned in Despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

. The recommendation for his DSO describes how he had fought in

virtually In mathematics, especially in the area of abstract algebra that studies infinite groups, the adverb virtually is used to modify a property so that it need only hold for a subgroup of finite index. Given a property P, the group ''G'' is said to b ...

every major engagement following the

Allied invasion of Sicily The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers ( Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It b ...

, rising from a platoon

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

, to regimental

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

, then commanding the support company and finally, for the year before the recommendation was made, becoming commander of B company. It further describes three particular attacks led by him, including an action on 21 September 1944 when the

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared ...

was ordered to improve the battalion's

bridgehead In military strategy, a bridgehead (or bridge-head) is the strategically important area of ground around the end of a bridge or other place of possible crossing over a body of water which at time of conflict is sought to be defended or taken over ...

over the river

Marecchia The Marecchia () is a river in eastern Italy. In ancient times it was known as the ''Ariminus'' which was from the Greek ''Aríminos'' (, which is also the ancient name of Rimini). The source of the river is near Monte dei Frati which is east of ...

where he frequently exposed himself to heavy enemy fire to direct Allied fire from tanks and mortars to ensure the success of his mission. Also slightly further north in Romana in December 1944 during the

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and for ...

of the Naviglio Canal the company captured a self propelled gun,

staff car A staff car is a vehicle used by a senior military officer, and is part of their country's white fleet. The term is most often used in relation to the United Kingdom where they were first used in quantity during World War I, examples being the ...

and an intact bridge, thanks to a flanking movement he initiated when they were first faced with the gun. He had previously been recommended for decorations on two occasions, and is described as: "a real inspiration and example to his men, and largely responsible for the successes of his Company". The award of the DSO was

gazetted A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

on 23 June 1945. After the war, McDougall returned to

, where he became Registrar of

, his place of employment for the rest of his life. He died in 1984.

Literary career

In 1951, McDougall began writing short stories, three of which were published in the Canadian magazine ''

Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian pers ...

'', with two more appearing in the American periodicals ''This Week'' and ''New Liberty''. One of the Maclean's stories, "The Firing Squad", concerns a Canadian soldier who is sentenced to be executed for treason by his own army. The story won several awards, including First Prize in the ''Maclean's'' fiction contest, and became the basis for ''Execution''. McDougall wrote ''Execution'' between 1952 and 1957, keeping copious notes on its development that are now preserved in the McDougall Papers at the Rare Books and Special Collections Division, McGill University Libraries. Based loosely on McDougall's own experiences in Italy during the war, and on the real-life

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

of Canadian Private Harold Pringle, the novel is both a harrowing depiction of men in combat and a

philosophical Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...

on the

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...

of war. The novel was praised by such writers as

Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; 10 July 1915 – 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only w ...

Vera Brittain Vera Mary Brittain (29 December 1893 – 29 March 1970) was an English Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurse, writer, feminist, socialist and pacifist. Her best-selling 1933 memoir '' Testament of Youth'' recounted her experiences during the Fir ...

, and

Hugh MacLennan John Hugh MacLennan (March 20, 1907 – November 9, 1990) was a Canadian writer and professor of English at McGill University. He won five Governor General's Awards and a Royal Bank Award. Family and childhood MacLennan was born in Glace B ...

, all of whom wrote to McDougall to express their admiration for his work (these letters are also in the McDougall Papers at McGill). Despite plans to write a followup to ''Execution'', McDougall never wrote another

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

. In 2005, ''Execution'' was reissued in a paperback edition as part of the

New Canadian Library The New Canadian Library is a publishing imprint of the Canadian company McClelland and Stewart. The series aims to present classic works of Canadian literature in paperback. Each work published in the series includes a short essay by another nota ...

series, published by

McClelland and Stewart McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is owned by Penguin Random House of Canada, a branch of Penguin Random House, the international book publishing division of German media giant Bertelsmann. History It was foun ...

Notes

References

* Warren Cariou. "Afterword." ''Execution'' by Colin McDougall. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart (New Canadian Library), 2005. . * Andrew Clark. '' A Keen Soldier: The Execution of Second World War Private Harold Pringle."'' Toronto: Vintage, 2002. * Colin McDougall. ''

''. (1958). Toronto: McClelland and Stewart (New Canadian Library), 2005. . * Colin McDougall. Archival Papers and Manuscripts. Rare Books and Special Collections Division, McGill University Libraries. * W.H. New, ed. ''The Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada''. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:McDougall, Colin 1917 births 1984 deaths Canadian Anglicans Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry soldiers Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry officers Canadian male novelists Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian male short story writers Canadian Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Governor General's Award-winning fiction writers Canadian Army personnel of World War II Military personnel from Montreal Writers from Montreal 20th-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian short story writers 20th-century Canadian male writers Place of birth missing Place of death missing

Biography

Literary career

See also

Notes

References