Willard Kitchener MacDonald

Who was Willard Kitchener MacDonald?

Willard Kitchener MacDonald, popularly known as the Hermit of Gully Lake, was a recluse who, after jumping a troop train to avoid service in World War II, lived in a secluded hut by Gully Lake in Canada for nearly 60 years. According to his birth certificate, Kitchener was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, on 13 August 1916, to his parents, Findlay Howard MacDonald and Jessie E. Sutherland.

Though Kitchener's situation is obscure, he was most likely conscripted for duty by the Canadian government in late 1944, following an apparent shortage of volunteering military enlistees. Opponents of the idea that Kitchener was drafted assert that the Canadian government would not have had the power to conscript enlist an American citizen.

The exact date that Kitchener took up isolation in his home beside Gully Lake is uncertain, whether it be immediately after he jumped the train, or gradually into the 1950s; nor is it known why he chose to stay there. It is likely that he originally began his dwelling to elude capture and punishment for his desertion, but Kitchener stayed there even after the Canadian government declared amnesty to deserters in 1950.