Charles Clarke McDonald was born on November 15, 1901 in Illinois and after his preliminary education he decided to make the Navy his career. Following his graduation from Annapolis in 1924, he served with the fleet until he reported to Pensacola for flight training in 1927. He would marry Loretta Christine Miller that same year and made Pensacola their home.
By the time WWII broke out Charles had been promoted to the rank of Lt. Commander. By 1945, he was now Captain McDonald in command of the escort carrier CVE-27 USS Suwanee. However, with Japan's surrender on September 2, 1945, the US Navy began its transformation into a peace time role. On October 2, 1945, Captain McDonald along with Admiral William Sample arranged to hitch a ride on a Martin PBM Mariner aircraft from the VP-205 Squadron flying out on a routine surveillance flight. It was surmised that the two men needed the air time to remain qualified for their flight pay. The original pilot was LTjg Brad Leete, however the "flight officer" pulled rank on him and said sarcastically, "Leete, there’s an Admiral flying with us and I’m not going to let him fly with you…I’m going to give him a good flight." Leete said later that, "It was a most gorgeous, picturesque day, but the only problem was that it was unusually turbulent."
Regardless of the weather, the plane took off from Wakayama, Japan at 0702 hours and the plane was observed heading away from Kobe, which was 30 miles north. That was the last contact with the plane either by radio or sight. At 1500, the estimated time of return of the plane, attempts were made by the control tower to contact it by radio. When the tower was unable to establish communications with the aircraft, two planes were dispatched to make a thorough search, all to no avail. Whether it was caused by engine trouble or the weather will never be known. After days of searching, they were declared dead. Loretta was notified at her home at 1304 North Barcelona Street, Pensacola that her husband was missing. Luckily, he had been home on leave in August but now he was gone!
Years later, the two senior officers and the seven members of the flight crew were discovered in the wreckage on November 19, 1948 on Honshu, Japan. The bodies were recovered and returned to the United States to be interred together at Arlington National Cemetery in a common grave on May 17, 1949.
Midshipman Charles Clarke McDonald, USNA 1924
Escort Carrier CVE-27 USS Suwanee
Pensacola News Journal 10-7-1945
Martin PBM Mariner similar to Captain McDonald's
Captain Charles Clarke McDonald and the PBM
Mariner Crew, Arlington National Cemetery