Daniel Joseph Donahue

West Point, 1968

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Jerry L Strait on October 10, 2015:

When I first met Lt Donahue, it was on a landing zone in the mountains of I Corp South Viet Nam. I was 1st squad leader of 2nd platoon, Delta Co, 1st/327, 101st Airborne Div. We had been on our current mission approx 60 days, and had been out of water for 2 days, so we were pretty ragged. Lt Donahue stepped off the resupply bird, dressed in new starched fatigues with all the patches and shiny boots. I thought this was another cherry LT that would want to do things by the book which did not always work out in our jungle fighting environment. I greeted him and the first thing he asked was whether I was a US or an RA. I told him in a proud voice,"I'm a US Sir." He made no other comments and met the rest of his new platoon. After resupply was finished and Dan was briefed by the CO, we moved out with each platoon moving in different directions. As we moved though the jungle LT would ask me about why we operated the way did and how we handled various situations that might pop up. This I found to be very different from my past platoon leaders, who did what they thought was right. This attitude showed the squad and platoon the he would be an excellent leader, and quickly earned the respect of all his men. As time past we developed a friendship,respectful of rank that lasted until his death. I greatly respected him as and officer and as a man . I will always remember him

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