Donald C. Wright
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Navy
Unit Info: Naval Reserve
Donald C. Wright enlisted at age 17 in the Naval Reserve on June 23, 1943. Home at entry: Virginia, Minnesota.
Mr. Wright served as a Sonarman 3rd Class (antisubmarine detection) on the fleet destroyer USS Dunlap (DD 384), a carrier task force escort that served in the Indian Ocean, Java Sea and Pacific Ocean from December 24, 1943 to December 4, 1945.
He participated in the Marshall Islands invasions with D-Day shore bombardments on Eniwetok, Kawajalein and Majoro Islands. He served with the British Great Eastern Fleet (led by Lord Louis Mountbatten and Adm. Sir James Sommerville) in supporting raids on Sabang, Sumatra and Soerabaja, Java and Indian Ocean in 1944. He participated in shore bombardments on Wake and Marcus Islands in 1944. He supported the Leyte Gulf operations in the Philippines.
The Dunlap escorted President Franklin D. Roosevelt and staff to Hawaii and Alaska in 1944. Its crew participated in seven close-in shore bombardments in the Iwo Jima campaign in 1944 and 1945. The ship sank or damaged several Japanese surface vessels; and destroyed at least one enemy aircraft.
It was assigned to on-station radar picket duty and air-sea rescue operations, between Okinawa and Japan in 1945; torpedoed and sank three enemy surface vessels at the Bonin Islands on February 13-14, 1945, and took aboard 53 Japanese prisoners of war. Wright witnessed the signing of the Japanese surrender of the Bonin Islands Group aboard the Dunlap in August 1945.
Among other accomplishments of the USS Dunlap: It fired the first shots in the Pacific Theater after the declaration of war; sank the first Japanese surface ship of WWII; sustained no casualties or physical damage in any engagement, and destroyed 10 and assisted in destroying 12 other Japanese aircraft.
The ship's officers and crewmen were awarded following: two Navy Crosses, two Silver Stars, three Bronze Stars, one Legion of Merit and five Letters of Commendation. The Dunlap was decommissioned on December 4, 1945, at Norfolk, Virginia. Wright served as the ship's company projectionist at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Illinois from January to March 1946.
He received the Combat Action Ribbon, Presidential Unit Citation, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with four bronze battle stars, World War II Victory Medal, Navy Occupation Medal (Asia) and Philippine Liberation Medal.
Mr. Wright was honorably discharged on March 5, 1946, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Source: Hometown Heroes: The Saint Louis County World War II Project, page 345.
