Alumnus Dawson MacDonald's Close Call with Wartime Catastrophe
Released on: December 27, 2001

Story by Forrest Mulvane

Many Boys Republic alumni from the 1930s, later enlisted in the armed forces, before or after the Pearl Harbor attack. Dawson MacDonald is one such graduate.

Dawson MacDonald

McDonald (BR #2471) attended Boys Republic as an orphan, from March 1938 until June 1939. Fibbing about his age, the then-16-year-old enlisted in the U.S. Navy, going through boot camp at the San Diego Naval Training Station.

Assigned to the peacetime fleet, McDonald then joined the crew of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Saratoga and became a radio communications specialist.

McDonald vividly remembers Dec. 7, 1941. Saratoga was en route to Pearl Harbor when they got the news of the Japanese attack. He recalls how they missed being caught with other warships anchored in Battleship Row, by only about four hours steaming time.

Later, his radio communications skills benefited U.S. Naval Aviation when he became a Radio Communications Instructor of naval pilot trainees at the University of Iowa at Iowa City.

Boys Republic recognized McDonald's remarkable service, naming him Alumnus of the year in 1997.