Dear Friends of Bill,
Bill passed away yesterday afternoon.
The following obituary will appear in the local
papers in St. Mary's County, MD, Virginia Beach, VA and Kingsville, TX.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support.
Bob
CDR William S. Donaldson, III, USN (Ret)
William S. Donaldson, 56, a retired Navy Attack Pilot, a nationally
recognized aircraft crash investigator and local member of the Planning
and Zoning Commission, died of a brain tumor August 22 at the Charlotte
Hall Veterans Home in St. Mary’s County Maryland.
Bill Donaldson was an All-State football player at the Rancocos Valley
Regional High School in New Jersey where he won a Football Scholarship
to the University of Maryland and has since been inducted into the RVRHS
Hall of Fame. He joined the Navy and entered flight school in 1965 and
in 1968 he flew more than 70 Strike missions over North Vietnam and Laos
in an A-4 Skyhawk off the aircraft carrier Intrepid. In later years
he was the Air Traffic Control Officer on the carrier Forrestal and flew
an A-6 Intruder off the carrier Eisenhower. In the mid 1980’s he
was assigned to NATO in Naples Italy as a Nuclear Weapons Targeting Officer.
Over his career he held assignments as Safety Officer and had extensive
training in aircraft crash investigation and investigated numerous crashes,
including one that was accidentally shot down by a missile. Bill
was awarded the Defense Meritorious Service Medal; the Air Medal, 7th Award;
Navy Commendation Medal (with Combat “V”) and numerous other medals and
awards.
Bill retired from the Navy in 1991 and moved back to his family home
on St. Clements Bay where he took up farming and was appointed to the St.
Mary’s County Planning and Zoning Commission. In 1997, after reading
an editorial by the Chairman of the NTSB about the tragic crash of TWA
Flight 800, Bill had a letter to the editor published in the Wall Street
Journal that began a 4 year effort to bring to light the true cause of
the crash. Over that time he was interviewed on several hundred radio
programs and appeared on several national TV broadcasts as an expert aircraft
crash investigator and vocal critic of the NTSB and FBI investigation.
He founded the Associated Retired Aviation Professionals (ARAP) and started
a website, twa800.com, to document the many discrepancies in the “official”
version of the crash and to the end remained committed to proving that
the aircraft was shot down. He was not alone in this crusade as there
are hundreds of other aviation professionals who will carry on the fight.
Bill is survived by his wife Joyce, one son, Michael of Houston TX,
a daughter, Teresa of Avenue, Maryland, three grandchildren, Christopher,
Hailey and Hana, one brother, Robert who lives in Falls Church, Virginia,
and two nieces Jennifer & Jessica.
The family will receive friends at Brinsfield Funeral Home Sunday evening
from 6-8 pm. The funeral service will be held at Christ Church, Chaptico
Maryland, 10 am, Monday, August 27th. In lieu of flowers, donations
may be made to the 7th District Rescue Squad, Avenue, Maryland, 20609.
