Iowa sunsets illuminate the simple inscription commemorating Don Donaldson's brief life carved into granite on a quiet hilltop in the Chariton Cemetery. Half a world away, his only other memorial is a name among thousands of others inscribed on Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery.
His bones themselves, if such survive, have rested at the bottom of the Indian Ocean some 200 miles off Christmas Island near his ship, the U.S.S. Edsall, since March 1, 1942, when after hours of merciless assault by Japanese bombers --- while on a rescue mission --- the old "four-pipe" destroyer turned onto her side and sank.
Neither inscription hints at the valor of young Donaldson, a month short of his 21st birthday when he died, and his mates --- theirs among the multitude of stories of heroism and sacrifice now fading from our collective memory as their generation walks on.
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Don's inscription is located on the back of the tombstone erected to mark the grave of his mother, Pansy McKinley (1896-1987). His father, R.S. "Jack" Donaldson (1892-1970) is buried elsewhere in the Chariton Cemetery, but he seems to have had only limited involvement in the life of his younger son.
Jack, a coal miner, and Pansy --- both Ottumwa natives --- were living in Williamson when Don --- Donald Gustave Donaldson --- was born at home on April 2, 1921. He had an older brother, Jack; an older sister, Margaret, who died at age 7 during the year of his birth; and another sister, Betty, stillborn during 1923. Margaret and Betty are buried near their mother.
The Donaldson marriage failed when Don was 5 and Pansy was granted a divorce during early November, 1926. Later that month, on Nov. 29, 1926, Pansy married James Burgett in Bethany, Missouri, and they established a comfortable home in Des Moines where the boys were raised and Pansy gave birth to two additional children, Betty and James Jr.
Jack Donaldson graduated from Lincoln High School, but Don dropped out when he turned 17 and enlisted in the U.S. Navy on April 20, 1938 --- to see the world.
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By 1941, Don had advanced to the rank of machinist's mate 3rd class and was serving aboard the U.S.S. Edsall, an aging Clemson-class destroyer laid down in 1919 and launched and commissioned during 1920. She was known, because of her four stacks, as a "four-piper."
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| The U.S.S. Edsall not long after her launch in 1920. |
The Edsall was stationed with Destroyer Division 57 at the southeast Borneo oil port of Balikpapan when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Thereafter, she performed various assignments in the region, most of them involving escort duty for shipping then fleeing to the relative safety of Darwin, Australia.
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| The crew of the U.S.S. Edsall in Shanghai on 28 September 1940 |
During the first week of 1942, while serving as an escort, she became the first U.S. destroyer to participate in the sinking of a full-sized enemy submarine in World war II. She also was damaged in north Australian waters when one of her own depth charges discharged prematurely during an anti-submarine attack on 23 January 1942.
On Feb. 26, the Edsall steamed from Tjilatjap, Java, with her sister ship, the USS Whipple, to rendezvous with a converted seaplane tender, the USS Langley, which was transporting P-40E fighters and crews for the defense of Java. On Feb. 27, the seaplane tender, along with the Edsall and the Whipple, came under attack by sixteen Japanese bombers escorted by 15 fighters flying out of Bali. The attack damaged the Langley so severely that she had to be abandoned. The Edsall picked up 177 survivors and the Whipple, 308.
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| The U.S.S. Edsall is seen in the distance in this shot from the Whipple with the Langley between. |
On 28 February, the two destroyers rendezvoused with the fuel ship USS Pecos off Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island, 250 miles southwest of Tjilatjap. More Japanese bombers forced the Edsall and the other two ships to head for open sea, however. They headed directly south into the Indian Ocean and in the early pre-dawn hours of March 1, all but 32 men rescued from the Langely were transferred to the Pecos.
The Pecos, now carrying about 700 survivors, was ordered to Australia and the Edsall, which still had 32 U.S. Army Air Force personnel rescued from the Langley aboard, was ordered to deliver them to Tjilatjap and headed back to the northeast for Java, never to be seen again by Allied forces.
The Pecos was detected later that morning by Japanese air patrols and came under heavy air attack. For some time she sent out distress calls to all Allied ships in the area, then at approximately 4 p.m., the Pecos sank with all aboard after sustained attacks that had lasted for several hours
Shortly thereafter, a single "light cruiser" --- the Edsall --- was spotted by the Japanese about 16 miles behind the Japanese task force --- attempting to reach her stricken Pecos comrades. Shortly after 4 p.m., a Japanese heavy cruiser opened fire and 15 minutes later, battleships joined the assault. All shots missed as the Edsall, however, and she fled, conducting evasive maneuvers.
The Edsall also disrupted the Japanese with counter-attacks, firing her torpedoes --- which narrowly missed --- and 4-inch guns even though outranged.
The Japanese surface vessels (2 cruisers, 2 battleships) fired 1,335 shells at Edsall that afternoon with no more than one or two hits, which failed to stop the destroyer. Air strikes then were ordered and their bombs immobilised the Edsall.
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| The U.S.S. Edsall goes down, March 1, 1942 |
At 5:22 p.m., the Japanese ships resumed firing on the destroyer. A Japanese camera-man on one of the vessels filmed about 90 seconds of her destruction. (A single frame from this film was saved for use as a propaganda photo). Finally, at 5:31 p.m. the Edsall rolled onto her side, "showing her red bottom" according to an officer aboard the Japanese battleship Hiei, and sank amid clouds of steam and smoke.
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Don's mother, Pansy, was notified some weeks later by telegram that her son had been declared missing in action, but no details were available. The Japanese apparently had pulled a few survivors from the sea before sailing away, leaving the rest to drown. None of those rescued survived Japanese captivity, however.
The men of the U.S.S. Edsall were declared dead officially on Nov. 25, 1945 --- and that is the date of death sometimes attributed to Don. Pansy was duly notified by mail.
James Burgett Sr. died a year after his stepson was declared missing, on May 3, 1943, and was buried in Glendale Cemetery, Des Moines.
On March 13, 1948, Pansy married John Hartley McKinley in Des Moines and they established their home in Chariton where they lived until death, John during 1959, age 62, and Pansy, on April 25, 1987, at the age of 90.
If you park in one of the allocated spaces at the foot of the big hill in the southwest part of the Chariton Cemetery and set out on foot in an easterly direction, you may be breathing hard before you reach the top. But glance to your left near the top and you'll see Don's inscription and perhaps, now, remember something of his story.
Note: There are several accounts out there of the U.S.S. Edsall's end. The account here is based in large part on a longer Wikipedia entry.
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