Alexander Ronald MacDonald

West Point, 1955

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Dan Dugan on January 14, 2004:

I first knew Skip as Skippy when he was a little brat at Ft. Bliss, Texas back in 1938 or so. I hung out with the slightly older Macdonald twins, Sandy and Sudy. In those days, a couple of years was a large gap and relegated Skippy to being a "little kid." He would follow us around trying to be part of the group of big kids, but we would often ditch him. On one of those occasions, he broke my prized BB Gun - which did not really work, but it could generate a satisfying "Pop!" in our war games. Perhaps he was just trying to see how it worked from an Army Ordnance point of view. Little did I know that many years later we would be Classmates and that Skip would finish 5 files ahead of me in our Cullum number ranking. Rats! His father, then Major Macdonald, used to take us on Sunday afternoon drives around the roads and highways outside of El Paso in their big, dark Buick. We kids would enjoy them so much and an ice cream, soda, or sundae was always provided at the Gunning-Casteel drugstore on Ft. Boulevard - a street just off post. You may recall that his Dad, now Major General Macdonald, gave us a lecture in the theater during Gloom Period one year. I still recall some of his words of advice to us all - to keep irregular hours at times. Get used to rising at any hour and being ready to be instantly, fully functional. The enemy did not work on an eight-to -five schedule. An amusing thing that Skip did on many occasions while we were Cadets would be to come right up to my steady date, look her right in the eye, and never taking his eyes off her - say "Hi, Danny" - ignoring me all the while. Skip, I, and others caroused around quite a lot at Ft. Knox. KY at the Armor School BOC after graduation. As fresh "Second Balloons" with all of that new found freedom, we cut a wide swath - or at least "they" did. I did have the opportunity to see Skip and Marty on occasion when they were stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco - a place on the top of my preference list for Army assignment, but never fulfilled. Rats again, Skip! You aced me out. The Class full and mini Reunions were other occasions to catch up with the Macdonalds over the years. Anyway, we all miss Skip and though "Time like an ever rolling stream, bears all its sons away," we know that Skip has found his well deserved rest. Dan Dugan E-1

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