John Owen Donaldson
1897-1930

John Donaldson was born May 14, 1897 in Fort Yates, South Dakota, where his father, Thomas Quinton Donaldson was stationed with a cavalry regiment. Young Donaldson spent his boyhood in Greenville, South Carolina, attending Greenville High School and Furman University.

While attending Cornell University, Donaldson joined the United States Air Service. After pilot training, he was assigned to 32 Squadron (RAF) on July 3, 1918. Flying the S.E.5a, he shot down seven German aircraft in less than two months. Donaldson was himself shot down and captured on September 1, 1918. The following day, while being held in a temporary prison camp, he and a fellow prisoner escaped. On September 9, 1918, the unlucky duo was recaptured while attempting to swim a stream between the Allied and German lines. Three days later, Donaldson together with his former companion and three other prisoners, escaped for the second time. After days of dodging the Germans, they cut through an electrified fence and made their way to safety in the Netherlands. This was the first successful POW escape of the war. Promoted to Captain, Donaldson was sent to Windsor Castle to meet King George V. Later U.S. General John Pershing would award him the Distinguished Flying Cross, joining decorations from Britain, France, and Belgium.

After the war, Donaldson received the Mackay Trophy for winning the U.S. Army’s transcontinental air race in October 1919. Resigning his commission in 1920, he later became president of Newark Air Service in N.J. and continued to participate in air races. On September 7, 1930, after winning the American Legion Air Race in Philadelphia, Donaldson was killed as 40,000 people watched his plane spin out of control and plunge 1,800 feet to the ground. His body was brought to Greenville, SC for a memorial service, and he was buried in Atlanta’s West View Cemetery with full military honors.

Historical Facts At-A-Glance

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