This Military Service Page was created/owned by
James Marshall Cuthbertson, Jr., AMS1
to remember
McDowell, Donald Bratton (Mac, Tex), SKC USN(Ret).
If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Home Town Corsicana, Texas
Last Address 3723 Coleman Street Bismarck, ND 58503
Date of Passing Aug 22, 2011
Location of Interment North Dakota Veterans Cemetery - Mandan, North Dakota
I am fully retired. Have worked for various companies since retiring from the Navy in 1987. The best were Lowe's and LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.
I have Peritoneal Mesothelioma which is because of asbestos exposure during my Navy career. The prognosis is 12 to 18 months of quality time.
Other Comments:
Don donated his body for medical research at the University of North Dakota Medical School in Grand Forks, ND in hope of helping to discover a cure for mesothelioma.
Vietnam War/Tet 69 Counteroffensive Campaign
From Month/Year
February / 1969
To Month/Year
June / 1969
Description This Campaign period was from 23 February to 8 June 1969. The overall composition of the SEALORDS task force in South Vietnam reflected the growing role of the Vietnamese Navy in the war. The newly elected administration of President Richard M. Nixon formally adopted as U.S. policy the Vietnamization program early in 1969.
The naval part of that process, termed ACTOV (Accelerated Turnover to the Vietnamese), embodied the incremental transfer to Vietnam of NAVFORV's river and coastal combatant fleet and the logistic support establishment. ACTOV was more than the provision of material, however, for the Vietnamese Navy needed training in the operation, maintenance, and repair of the U.S. equipment and in the efficient functioning of the supply system. Leadership skills at all command levels required improvement as did the general morale of naval personnel before the Vietnamese Navy would be able to fight on alone.
Spearheaded by the 564 officers and men of the Naval Advisory Group early in 1969, the U.S. Navy integrated Vietnamese sailors into the crews of American ships and craft. When sufficiently trained, the Vietnamese bluejackets and officers relieved their American counterparts, who then rotated back to the United States. As entire units came under Vietnamese Navy command, control of the various SEALORDS operations passed to that naval service as well.
