Navy Yeoman 1Class Donald Walter Forsyth was born in Pensacola, Florida on February 12, 1907, the son of John Bournet “Scotty” Forsyth (1864-1906) and Margaret “Maggie” Collins (1875-1942). His father supported his family as a fisherman and diver until his premature death at the age of 42-years old on March 13, 1906. He was aboard the smack “Clara S. Grimes” when he lurched over the side, possibly from a heart attack. His body disappeared, and he was never seen again. Maggie moved her family into 226 West Zarragossa Street where she was supported by her five sons. She would pass away in 1942. Donald would go on to graduate from Pensacola High School in 1928 where he was prominent in football. He attended the University of Florida as a journalism major and again excelled in football as a right guard.
With his former experience as a high school reporter with the Pensacola News Journal and his degree in journalism he became a correspondent after he enlisted in the Navy in 1943. The Navy’s new fleet correspondent program was designed to place sailors with writing experience on board ships to write stories for the sailor’s hometown papers. They were also to compose historical narratives of their ship’s wartime activities. After his training and indoctrination, he was transferred aboard the USS Franklin as a Yeoman 1st Class on February 28, 1945. He flew aboard the carrier after her departure from the Puget Sound Navy Yard where the damage received from the Battle of Leyte Gulf had been repaired. He and his ship joined Task Force Group 58.2 carrying out strikes on the Japanese homeland in support of the Okinawa landings.
Nineteen days after he joined the ship, he found himself sailing close to the shores of Japan, more so than any other carrier of the war at the time. They launched their aircraft for a bombing mission, but suddenly a lone Japanese airplane dove out of the clouds and dropped two bombs, one on the Franklin’s flight deck and the other on the after deck. As the fires raged, they loss all power as casualties were mounting by the minute. The Franklin now lay dead in the water just fifty miles off Japan with over 724 men dead with another 265 wounded. Many of the dead were never recovered, having been blown overboard. Others like Forsyth were killed, recovered, and buried at sea while their ship limped back to Pearl Harbor for temporary repairs. When able, she sailed under her own power to Brooklyn, New York and stayed there for the remainder of the war. In the meantime, Donald became the first fleet enlisted correspondent to be killed in action. Back home, Donald’s brother, Eugene Forsyth was notified by the war department of his death. In memory of his sacrifice, his name is entered on the Honolulu War Memorial in Hawaii. Donald was the third Pensacolian that was killed in action aboard the USS Franklin that day!
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