Donald McMullen

Major-General Sir Donald Jay McMullen (27 July 1891 – 12 November 1967) was a British Army officer of the Royal Engineers 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 from 1941 to 1945.

A 1911 graduate of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, McMullen participated in the Gallipoli, Salonika and Sinai and Palestine campaigns of the First World War. After the war, he was seconded to the Egyptian State Railways, and he served in Palestine during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt.

On the outbreak of the Second World War 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 during the First World War, for which he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1919 New Year Honours.

McMullen was educated at Bradfield College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. After completing his Young Officer Training at the School of Military Engineering at Chatham, Kent, 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. which became substantive on 26 June 1917, and acting major on 27 February 1917. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in the 1918 New Year Honours.

Between the wars After the war, McMullen was seconded to the Egyptian State Railways. He married Evelyn Frances Packer in 1922. They had two daughters and a son. During his time there the Longmoor Military Railway line to Liss railway station was completed in 1932, and a passenger service to Bordon railway station was opened. He conducted exercises on railway and port operations, and taught the basics of military movement control to Staff College cadets.

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. In April the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem declared a general strike. Arabs attacked Jewish settlements and communications in Palestine. The railways were particularly vulnerable. McMullen organised Royals Engineers units to maintain and repair the lines. For his services, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1937 Coronation Honours.

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 and other port authorities in the south of England. The SS Applepie was acquired for stevedore training. and advanced to a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1940 Birthday Honours. His citation, written by Major General Wilfrid Gordon Lindsell, read:

McMullen was appointed Director General of Transportation at the War Office, a position he held for the duration of the war. 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 to support the Western Desert campaign. Ports in Libya were rehabilitated to support the advance of the British Eighth Army from El Alamein to Tunis. Railways in Iran were upgraded to support the Persian Corridor 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. and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1946 New Year Honours. He was also made a Commander of the United States Legion of Merit on 17 October 1946, and of the French French Legion of Honour. 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, Hampshire, on 12 November 1967.