Bruce Joseph Donald – Lieuenant, United States Navy

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From a contemporary press report: October 2000

“The Navy pilot who died when his fighter jet crashed Friday into the Persian Gulf was identified Sunday as a former Town of Poughkeepsie resident. Lieutenant Bruce Joseph Donald, 27, was a 1991 graduate of Spackenkill High School.

The jet crashed Friday and Donald was declared dead Saturday, but theNavy did not release his name until Sunday. Donald was a 1995 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.

The jet had lost communication with the aircraft carrier USS AbrahamLincoln soon after taking off for a routine test on carrier landings.”

There will be a local memorial mass on Friday, October 6th, at 10:15AM at St Martin de Porres Church, 40  Cedar Valley Road, Town of Poughkeepsie, New York.

Interment will be at 12:45PM, Tuesday, October 17th, at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. There will be a chapel service followed by burial with full military honors.

Richard Cochrane forged to the lead after eight miles and ran solo for the remainder of yesterday’s 25th Marine Corps Marathon.

Just two things were on the mind of the 27-year Naval flight officer: whether he would make it to the finish line before collapsing and how much he wanted to win the nation’s fifth-largest race of 26 miles, 285 yards for his former flight school roommate Lieutenant Bruce Donald, who died in a plane crash in the Persian Gulf on Sept. 29.

Cochrane attended Donald’s funeral Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery, within view of yesterday’s finish line, where Cochrane collapsed to the lawn just a step past the finish tape. It took the 1995 Naval Academy graduate 2 hours, 25 minutes, 50 seconds – slowest winning time in the event’s history – to take the tourist route from the Marines’ Iwo Jima Memorial through Washington and back across the Potomac ahead of a record 17,641 starters and 17,186 finishers.

From: Pat Donald
Date: Wednesday, October 4, 2000
Subject: USMA1971 Personal Annoucement

It’s with a heavy heart that I make my first attempt at a posting. But I want my classmates to be aware of our recent loss. Quoting the press:

“The Navy pilot who died when his fighter jet crashed Friday into the Persian Gulf was identified Sunday as a former Town of Poughkeepsie resident. Lieutenant Bruce Joseph Donald, 27, was a 1991 graduate of Spackenkill High School.

The jet crashed Friday and Donald was declared dead Saturday, but the Navy did not release his name until Sunday. Donald was  a 1995 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.

The jet had lost communication with the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln soon after taking off for a routine test on carrier  landings.”

There will be a local memorial mass on Friday, October 6th, at 10:15AM at St Martin de Porres Church, 40 Cedar Valley Road,  Town of Poughkeepsie, NY.

Interment will be at 12:45PM, Tuesday, October 17th, at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. There will be a chapel service followed by burial with full military honors.

 If any classmates in the DC area wish to attend we would be honored.

 Elaine and I, and Bruce’s brother Brian would prefer no flowers…memorial donations can go to the Alzheimer’s Asssociation or  the American Heart Association.

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