Murdo Mackinnon (1904-1989) was a son of Alexander Mackinnon and Mary Ann Macleod, 1 Garyvard.

He enrolled in the Royal Naval Reserve S/Ns A11157, B7167, C6377 and D5922, on July 23, 1923. His records indicated that he was 5ft 8in tall with fair hair, blue eyes and a pale complexion. Murdo was a Painter at the Kirkconnel Colliery in Dumfriesshire and in 1925 returned to 21 Battery Park, Stornoway and was a fisherman on his father's fishing boat, the Unity.

He joined the Merchant Navy in 1926 and travelled to Bilbao on the SS Inver, to Australia on the SS Tongariro, to Russia on the SS Ossian and the SS Mervyn. In 1931 he returned to fishing on the Try Again.

At Stornoway, in 1938, he married Christina Montgomery, 17 Lemreway and settled at Sandwick, Stornoway.

Murdo was sent to HMS Drake in Devonport on September 28, 1938 for RNR Training and was Mobilised. He served as a Leading Seaman in the Royal Navy Patrol Service during the Second World War, based at HMS Baldur, HMS Pembroke and aboard HMS Dunotter .