Claude Donaldson

Maj. Col. Claude Donaldson (above, right) gets a promotion to lieutenant colonel by Col. A.E. Blewett. Today, Donaldson (below) volunteers for the AARP.


A softball game at Fort Dix cost this Bucks resident
a chance at combat, but led him to his future wife.

By Peter Ciferri
BucksLocalNews.com Editor

Claude Donaldson wanted to see battle.

His family had a long history of air and infantrymen in both World Wars, and when he joined the Army just before the Korean War, the Chatham, N.J., native and current Lower Makefield resident expected to be an infantry platoon leader.

That path ended one afternoon in 1952, when during a softball game at Ft. Dix, a fellow solder slid into third base spikes out, breaking Donaldson’s leg just above the ankle and taking him out of commission for a year.

“I had volunteered to go to Korea because I knew I wanted to stay in the service,” Donaldson remembered. “I would have liked to have had a chance to see how I would have done.”

The broken bones put Donaldson in a cast for a year. By the time he was healed and on a plane for Korea, the cease fire had been called and the war came to a close.

Donaldson explained that while he was relieved to not face combat in Korea, he knew the military would be his life’s work and felt it would be appropriate to have that experience.

“I felt that I needed to get some combat experience, but as things worked out, I didn’t get that opportunity,” Donaldson said. “There but for a broken ankle.”

Claude Donaldson joined the Army in 1948, starting a 21-year career that would land him in Hawaii, New York, Virginia, Germany and Japan, spending much of his time working at a military prison and an intelligence office.

But perhaps his biggest break was the one in his leg, as the broken bones that kept him out of Korea also led Claude to his future wife.

Donaldson admits that had he gone to Korea, “it was a strong possibility that I would have gotten my butt handed to me,” but after his injury, the eager soldier was transferred to a base in Arkansas.

One evening, he and a fellow soldier were setting up a double date when Claude’s date was forced to cancel. After a little digging, his friend remembered another girl: Helen Turner. The group went out for some evening drinks and Claude came away with a marriage that would last over three decades and give him four children.

“There were a lot of things that were kind of ironic,” Donaldson reflected.

Claude continued in the Army after the Korean cease-fire and was just settling down with his growing family in Hawaii when he got orders to report to Vietnam.

Entering the country, Donaldson was greeted with the sober reality of war. His transport boat was surrounded by armed guards and helicopters — the only way it would reach port safely. Later, his transport bus broke down, leaving a crew of soldiers in the middle of the jungle with weapons, but no ammunition.

“The only person armed was the driver,” Donaldson recalls.

Luckily, these were among the closest calls for Donaldson.

In the intelligence sector, Donaldson’s office helped train the spies and gather the tips that would help U.S. forces infiltrate Vietnamese camps. And while his job was in an office, his unit still remained vigilant.

“There’s always the possibility that something could happen,” Donaldson said.

One day, a truck loaded with explosives rammed into a Vietnamese police station right next to his barracks and grenade attacks on his unit’s Jeeps were common. Around 30 of his men were injured that way.

Just a few more close calls in the life of Claude Donaldson.

His last close call came when he left Vietnam. On his ride to leave the country, Donaldson passed a Jeep that had recently been attacked. Only later would he find out that his replacement — who survived — was riding in that very Jeep.

“They had some horrendous battles with the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese,” Donaldson said, explaining that the Tet Offensive started shortly after he left. “I can’t say if we’d have been there still what would have happened to us.”

Back in America, Donaldson worked a few more years at his old post in Hawaii before retiring from the service in 1969.

Helen passed away in 1988 and Claude has since reacquainted and married an old high school friend. Today, he volunteers for the AARP, teaching driver’s education refresher courses and helping thousands of seniors prepare their taxes. But most of all, Donaldson is proud of his four children — two doctors, a lawyer and an engineer — who, peppered across the country, always give him somewhere to go and grandchildren to visit.

“It’s been an interesting lifetime. I’ve been real happy.”