Chain of Command 1888-12-4: Born at Helena, Montana 1910: Ensign, Graduates from Naval Academy. Assigned to BB Tennessee 1912: BB Washington 1914: BB Maryland 1917: Receives Master of Science in electrical engineering from Columbia University 1917: Commander, patrol yacht Remlik 1918: Commander, DD Lamson 1919: Burea of Navigation 1921: Commander, DD Talbot 1921: Commander, DD Parrott 1922: Commander, DD Sumner 1923: Fleet Training Division 1925: BB New Mexico 1928: Instructor, Naval Academy 1931: Staff, Asiatic Fleet 1934: Office of Chief of Naval Operations 1936: Naval War College 1937: Commander, Executive officer, BB Colorado 1938: Captain, Commander, CL Richmond 1939: Instructor, Naval Academy 1941-10-1: Commander, Transport Division 19/Commander, Mount Vernon 1942-7: Commander, Naval Operations Base Iceland 1943-2-10: Rear Admiral, Commander, Fleet Operational Training Command, Atlantic Fleet 1944-10-1: Commander, Service Squadron 6 1946: Commander, 12 Naval District 1948: Vice Admiral, President, Naval War College 1950: Retires 1966: Dies
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Other Memories On 14 March 1943 the Fleet Operational Training Command, Atlantic Fleet was formally established, with Rear Admiral Donald B. Beary in command. Beary, known as "Red" to his fellow Naval Academy graduates of the Class of 1910, came to the new assignment from a seventh-month stint as Commandant of the Naval Operating Base in Iceland. He was the perfect choice for this exacting job. A member of the Navy's Gun Club who had earned a PG degree in electrical engineering at Columbia, he had been known since his Midshipman days as a man who possessed drive above all else.
During the year-and-a-half he served as COTCLANT, Beary successfully administered the creation and operation of a wide variety of training facilities along the U.S. East Coast, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and on Culebra Island, Puerto Rico. These included such esoteric facilities as Anti-Aircraft Training Centers and the Anti-Aircraft Training Afloat program on board U.S.S. Wyoming, the Combat Information Center, Group Training Center in Norfolk, the Anti-Submarine Warfare Unit in Norfolk, the Fleet Sonar School in Key West, and the Minecraft Training Center in Little Creek, Virginia. In all during his time in command, Admiral Beary directed the training of more than 1,000,000 officers and men of the United States Fleet and supervised the shakedown or refresher training of some 5,000 vessels.
It is not surprising, therefore, that in the citation for the Distinguished Service Medal he was awarded in February 1945 for his accomplishments, he was singled out as a "resourceful and aggressive administrator" who was responsible for "the high state of battle proficiency and readiness for action maintained by the vessels under his command."
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