Donald James Usry
Cullum No. 22786
Died 25 October 1969
in Colorado Springs, Colorado
Aged 32 years
Interment: West Point Cemetery, West Point, New York

From the host of athletic scholarship offers that came his way, don chose to enter Texas A&M in the Fall of 1955.  He knew in his heart that this was an interim measure, and, sure enough a year later he joined the Long Gray Line, entering West Point as a member of the Class of 1960.

Don’s four years at the Military Academy were full of challenges and fulfillment.  Winning a first team end position from the start of his sophomore year, Don became a permanent fixture on the Army team.  He was at the “friendly end” position on the great undefeated Army team of 1958.  I have so often been told by persons who witnessed the 1958 Navy game about Don’s return of an intercepted pass for the touchdown that put the game on ice for the Army.  At this writing Don still is tied for the Army record of most passes caught in one game.  At the conclusion of his final varsity season, Don was selected to the Academic All American team.  Such an honor was representative of his dedication to scholarship and athletics during the West Point years.

Don loved football and he loved flying.  Those who knew him well were not in the least surprised when he chose to enter the Air Force upon graduation.  First his Texas size and then some lingering football injuries almost kept him out of pilot training, but he eventually won his wings following training at Graham and then Craig Air Force Base.  At this juncture he selected the F-100 super sabre as the fighter he wanted to fly and proceeded to Luke Air Force Base for that training.  Don and I had met in Dallas, and while he was at Luke we were married.  After completing further training at Nellis Air Force Base we were assigned to Wheelus Air Force Base, Tripoli, Libya, where Don’s reputation as an outstanding pilot and officer grew steadily.  In addition to flying an F-100, Don handled the gunnery range at Wheelus, which served as a requalifying area for European based pilots.  Here, and in all of his Air Force service, he was recognized as a leader, a man who was gentle but firm, a man with engaging modesty, a sense of humor and a will to excel.

Those who were close to Don here and during other phases of his Air Force service knew that he was a perfectionist, a person who demanded perfection of himself first, and then sought perfection in the men, activities, and institutions he served. Always calm, even-tempered, outgoing, Don was yet reserved and made friends slowly, casting about to see if there were room in a relationship for a true and lasting friendship, as a Texan would view the spaciousness of the land to see if there were truly room for living.  Shakespeare’s advice on friendship seems admirably to fit Don’s approach to the matter: “Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel.”  One of Don’s closest friends wrote to me recently, “The thing that impressed you most about Don Usry was his confidence in himself.  As scholar, athlete, soldier, and friend he was an exceptionally competent human being.  He didn’t do anything halfway.  It’s not unusual that a man of his abilities should be aware of his own competence, but he was aware of it in a good-humored, let me help you solve your problem sort of way.  He was always telling me not to get excited.”  In my own experience, I leaned that in his duties as a pilot and Air force Officer, it disturbed Don a great deal when he had to deal with someone whom he felt had failed to do his job to the best of his ability. While at Wheelus, one of Don's favorite duties was coaching one of the base's football teams, and he accepted frequent invitations to speak at the high school athletic banquets.  It was here in Africa that our first child, a strapping son –Donald Webster -- was born.  Very few children are brought home from the hospital wearing a “”G” size West Point T-shirt, but ours was that one.  Don was a lovingly proud father.

After a three-year assignment at Wheelus, Don was reassigned to the 309th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida.  Here, along with flying, Don was able to enjoy two of his favorite sports, fishing and scuba diving.  The entire wing left a year later for a tour at Tuy Hoa, Republic of Vietnam.  Don demonstrated in almost three-hundred combat missions that his preparation throughout the training phases of his cadet and Air Force career had been thorough and inspirational.  While flying out of Tuy Hoa, he was reunited with many of his classmates and had the opportunity of providing some of them, fighting in the jungle below, with close air support.  He knew the unit designations of many of his classmates, and he always checked with the forward air controller to find out exactly which tactical ground unit he was supporting.  It inspired him to know that he had a classmate on the ground who needed his help and that he was able to give it. For his work in Vietnam Don was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, fourteen Air Medals, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.  But to Don the excitement, challenges and fulfillment of life mattered a great deal, the medals very little.  It was during his Vietnam tour that he was selected by his squadron Commanding Officer as the subject of an ABC television documentary, “War in The Skies.”  I was terribly proud of Don, but my pride in his being selected was nothing in comparison to the joy of getting to meet him in Hawaii for R&R, one of the episodes of the documentary. 

After completing the one-year Republic of Vietnam tour, Don returned to the United States where he undertook graduate study of mathematics at Southern Methodist University preparatory to being assigned to the Air Force Academy as an instructor in mathematics.  Dallas held a nostalgic significance in our lives.  It was here that Don and I had met and I was a Southern Methodist University graduate.  But of far greater significance we would be able to be near our little daughter, Sharon, who had been confined to a Dallas hospital since her birth one year earlier because of an opening in her spine.  At the time of her birth it was the words of my husband that gave me the courage to accept Sharon’s future whatever it might be.  These same words came back to me when Don was killed and once again gave me the strength to carry on.  Don said simply, “God will never give you more than you can bear if you will let Him help you.”

Don achieved an almost perfect academic record while taking his Master’s Degree at Southern Methodist University.  Here, too, he was promoted to Major two years below the zone of consideration.

Assignment to the Air Force Academy in June of 1969 was an engrossing experience for Don, because he was able to put his love for mathematics, fishing, flying and football all together at one time and place.  Although his primary duty was instructing the freshman cadets in mathematics, he also helped coach the freshman football team and scouted for the varsity.

Fog can roll in quickly in those Colorado mountains.  It  was during just such a condition of poor weather, as Don was returning from a scouting trip, that his T-33 crashed while he was attempting a landing at Colorado Springs.   Memorial services were held for Don at the Air Force Academy and burial followed at West Point on a clear, crackling fall day that must have been like so many Don had known as a cadet.

I have tried to emphasize the elements both of a tangible and spiritual nature at work in Don’s life.  He was a man committed to his family (especially to include his mother, father, and brother), his friends, and most certainly to his Country.  He valued honesty and duty above all else and did his best to instill those values in those who worked with and under him.  More than anything else that I wish to say about Don, he was good and kind enough to strength me at the critical junctures of our life together, and because of having known and loved him this strength remains with me.