Unit: C Trp, 1st Squadron, 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment
Duty station: Fort Lewis, Washington
MOS: 11A – Infantry
Awards: National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon
Badges: Combat Infantryman Badge, Parachutist Badge
Deployments: Iraq
Commissioned: January 2003
Commission Source: Officer Canidate School
Date of birth: 5 May 1974
Hometown: Kenosha, Wisconsin
High School: Kenosha Tremper High School
College: University of California – San Francisco, graduated in 2000 with a Master of Science degree in Neuroscience
Campaign: Peacetime
Died: 11 October 2005
Age at death: 31
Cause of death: Self-inflicted drug or alcohol overdose.
Location of fatality: Fort Lewis
Place of interment: United States Military Academy Post Cemetery in West Point, New York
Note:
The following information collected from his Find a grave memorial. He attended The University of Wisconsin-Madison, graduating with honors in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry. While a UW student he received the 1995-96 Hillsdale Research Fellowship in Bio-Chemistry. His research article was then published in Bio-Chemistry journals. He spent the next year studying at the University of Regensburg in Regensburg, Germany, where he learned the German language during his studies. Donald then attended the University of California – San Francisco on a fellowship where he graduated in 2000 with a Master of Science degree in Neuroscience (he was also offered fellowships at Northwestern, Johns Hopkins and Harvard). In 2001 he moved to New York and taught high school biology and chemistry at Marta Valle High School on the lower east side of Manhattan where he was when terrorists struck the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
In 2002 he enlisted in the United States Army, attended Officer Candidate School at Ft. Benning, Georgia, and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in January 2003 with the 2nd Armored Calvary Regiment. He spent nine months in Baghdad, Iraq during his tour of duty beginning in 2003, returning to America in April 2004. He had been stationed at Ft. Lewis since January 2005.