World War II
Cmdr. Robert Lee Donley, Circa 1959
Robert Lee Donley survived World War II. It is because he survived that the rest of our family came to be born. Therefore, we start our story with World War II.
Robert Lee Donley was born June 7, 1916 in Columbus, Ohio and died May 31, 2006 in Bellevue, Washington at just under 90 years old. This is the story of his heroism during the Aleutian Campaign of World War II. Since this is a first person account by his daughters Dianne and Patrticia, we will refer to him as Dad. For most of our childhood the accounts of Dad's assignments in the Navy and at the Boeing Company were classified. So it is only as adults that we came to learn this story.
Dad graduated Magna Cum Laude from Ripon College in Wisconsin in 1938, with a Bachelor of Arts. He majored in physics, chemistry and math. In that year, he was offered and accepted a Fellowship in the Department of Physics at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Before World War II, Navy Patrol Plane Units VP-16 and VP-17 were based at Naval Air Station (NAS), Seattle and alternated duty in the Territory of Alaska on an all-weather basis. Upon establishment of Patrol Wing-Four in Seattle, VP-16 became VP-41 and VP-17 became VP-42. These were the “work horse” squadrons of Pat-Wing Four. (From “Enlisted Naval Aviation Pilots, Turner Publishing Company, 2002.) World War II started in Europe September 1, 1939. That is also the year Dad joined the Navy. He kept all the “flimsy” copies of his orders. This is his story according these and other records he passed on to us.
On May 10, 1939, Dad enlisted as Seaman Second Class, V5 (apparently a formality) for 4 years at Naval Air Station (NAS) Seattle at Sand Point. He had to give up his Fellowship at the University of Washington. The story he told us was that he wanted to fly. (There are no photos of NAS Seattle at Sand Point in our records.) On Sept. 7, 1939 he received orders to active duty as Aviation Cadet undergoing training at Pensacola, Florida; signed C.W. Nimitz. Endorsements from Staff Headquarters, 13th Naval District, Seattle. Signed E.B. Fenner, Commandant. He started recording his flights in his first Aviators Flight Log Book in Pensacola.
On April 15, 1940 he was appointed by the President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to the rank of Ensign, A-V (N), U.S. Naval Reserve. His commission was to continue until Sept. 20, 1944 and is signed by James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy. On July 27 he was ordered to Patrol Squadron Forty-Two at Naval Air Station, Seattle. Orders signed S.W. Nimitz. By September he was flying PBY-2 planes out of NAS Seattle, Sand Point. By Jan. of 1941 he had qualified as a 2nd Pilot in PBY-2 airplanes, after which he began training on night, bombing and tactical missions with a crew. (From Dad’s Aviators Flight Log)
On July 14, 1941 he was ordered to Temporary Duty (TDY), Patrol Wing Four Gunnery School, NAS, Seattle. Signed A.R. Nash
Robert Lee Donley was born June 7, 1916 in Columbus, Ohio and died May 31, 2006 in Bellevue, Washington at just under 90 years old. This is the story of his heroism during the Aleutian Campaign of World War II. Since this is a first person account by his daughters Dianne and Patrticia, we will refer to him as Dad. For most of our childhood the accounts of Dad's assignments in the Navy and at the Boeing Company were classified. So it is only as adults that we came to learn this story.
Dad graduated Magna Cum Laude from Ripon College in Wisconsin in 1938, with a Bachelor of Arts. He majored in physics, chemistry and math. In that year, he was offered and accepted a Fellowship in the Department of Physics at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Before World War II, Navy Patrol Plane Units VP-16 and VP-17 were based at Naval Air Station (NAS), Seattle and alternated duty in the Territory of Alaska on an all-weather basis. Upon establishment of Patrol Wing-Four in Seattle, VP-16 became VP-41 and VP-17 became VP-42. These were the “work horse” squadrons of Pat-Wing Four. (From “Enlisted Naval Aviation Pilots, Turner Publishing Company, 2002.) World War II started in Europe September 1, 1939. That is also the year Dad joined the Navy. He kept all the “flimsy” copies of his orders. This is his story according these and other records he passed on to us.
On May 10, 1939, Dad enlisted as Seaman Second Class, V5 (apparently a formality) for 4 years at Naval Air Station (NAS) Seattle at Sand Point. He had to give up his Fellowship at the University of Washington. The story he told us was that he wanted to fly. (There are no photos of NAS Seattle at Sand Point in our records.) On Sept. 7, 1939 he received orders to active duty as Aviation Cadet undergoing training at Pensacola, Florida; signed C.W. Nimitz. Endorsements from Staff Headquarters, 13th Naval District, Seattle. Signed E.B. Fenner, Commandant. He started recording his flights in his first Aviators Flight Log Book in Pensacola.
On April 15, 1940 he was appointed by the President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to the rank of Ensign, A-V (N), U.S. Naval Reserve. His commission was to continue until Sept. 20, 1944 and is signed by James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy. On July 27 he was ordered to Patrol Squadron Forty-Two at Naval Air Station, Seattle. Orders signed S.W. Nimitz. By September he was flying PBY-2 planes out of NAS Seattle, Sand Point. By Jan. of 1941 he had qualified as a 2nd Pilot in PBY-2 airplanes, after which he began training on night, bombing and tactical missions with a crew. (From Dad’s Aviators Flight Log)
On July 14, 1941 he was ordered to Temporary Duty (TDY), Patrol Wing Four Gunnery School, NAS, Seattle. Signed A.R. Nash
1941-1942: VP-42
Dad's PBY 5a circa 1941, probably near Seward, Alaska
Cold Bay, Alaska, 1942. From Left to Right: Robert Lee Donley, Dave Brough (seated), Unknown, Lloyd Meeks, Unknown. All of VP42. All killed in action except Donley. As told by Donley to daughter Dianne
From left Robert Lee Donley, Dave Brough, Sam Coleman. Dad could not remember the names of the other two. VP-42, Cold Bay, Alaska, 1942
August 25, 1941 he was ordered to Patrol Squadron Forty-Two, Kodiak, Alaska. Signed J.S. Russell. Russell had joined VP-42 in July and became Commanding Officer. When the U.S. entered WWII, he led VP-42 into action against Japanese forces in the Aleutian Islands Campaign. He established advanced bases in the area and operated the squadron from them. (Wikipedia) He became a long-time family friend, and the two of us have memories of “going to visit the Admiral.”
“A ‘roles and missions’ decision in 1920 had precluded the Navy from developing land-based patrol aircraft. In order to provide the PBY the ability to carry its own beaching gear, providing increased operation flexibility, the Bureau of Aeronautics contracted with Consolidated to develop the amphibious PBY-5A. The first of these were assigned to the Pacific in Dec 1941.” (From Naval Aviation News, July-Aug. 1992) Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese on December 7, 1941. Dec. 8 the U.S. declared war on Japan, entering WWII officially. On Feb. 1, 1942, Dad was ordered TDY to Patrol Squadron 42 (VP-42), Naval Operating Base at Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Signed J.S. Russell. There is a draft of an account of this period titled “The Attack on Dutch Harbor”, along with Dad’s critique of the account, in our memorabilia. This information comes from that account, which was published as Center of the Storm,the Bombing of Dutch Harbor and the Experience of Patrol Wing Four in the Aleutians, Summer 1942 by Jeff Dickrell. VP-42 was stationed at the Army base (Fort Mears) at Cold Bay while VP-41 remained at “Dutch”. Their job was to locate the Japanese fleet and radio it’s position back to the Army bases where B-26 bombers were waiting, loaded with torpedos. There are four photos in our records taken at Cold Bay (posted here). Dad’s critique of the article states that “most of us a Cold Bay were flying sectors to the south of the islands in search of the Japanese fleet, and after our search we reported in and took off for a dispersal place. We never got to talk very much to the rest of the squadron’s crews.” The PBY was built to be the eyes of the Navy, not the fist. Its bomb load was small, its defenses woefully weak. Its job was to locate the enemy fleet and then shadow it well out of range and hopefully out of sight. A Japanese Zero fighter would make short work of a PBY. The American P-boat (PBY) pilots would fly in and out of the clouds trying hard to see but not be seen. (Dad told us of nightmares that he was flying his plane into a mountain). When the enemy was located, the patrol plane would stay on station until their fuel ran low. Often the Patrol Plane Commander (PPC) would make a bomb or torpedo run on the ships. The PBY was not built for offensive action and most who tried this were either shot down or damaged. The planes slow speed and the need to fly straight and level to drop bombs made it an easy target for enemy anti-aircraft guns and planes. On June 3, 1942 a small flight of Japanese airplanes bombed the military installations at Dutch Harbor. These were the opening shots in the year-long Aleutian campaign. The Japanese returned the next afternoon, dropping more bombs, killing more men, with much more accuracy than the previous morning. In the big picture damage was slight and casualties minimal but for the men involved, specially the aviators, it was a frenzied, fearful experience. Dad is quoted: “Prior to the attack on Dutch all orders were given formally in writing. When one was sent to a place other than where the squadron was stationed, orders were given as ‘You are hereby detached and will report to’. After the attack on Dutch there were no more orders in writing unless one was ordered back to the States.” In his critique of the article, Dad added the following story of the first Japanese Zero plane captured intact by the Americans: “I read somewhere that Ens. Mitchell was credited with having shot down the Zero which I guess had one bullet hole in the engine. I think it severed a gas or oil line. The pilot tried to land in the Tundra just off the water with his wheels down. The plane flipped over and the pilot died of a broken neck. The plane was brought into Dutch and placed on the dock. Later when I was at Dutch, I was able to look in the cockpit and generally look the plane over. I remember marveling at how sparse it was. The Zero was shipped to the States and was used to study its characteristics which helped in combat against it. The incident was one of the legacies of the Dutch Harbor attack.”
He is also quoted again in a tragic story. “One of the problems in taking off from the harbor at Dutch was the Spit. We took off going out the harbor entrance and it was necessary to start as far back in the Harbor as we could in order to clear the Spit. Ensign Frederick Andrew Smith crashed on the spit early in 1942. We called him Andy. He started a take-off with the ice on his wings and as he approached the Spit, realizing he didn’t have flying speed, he attempted to hop the Spit by pulling the plane off the water. He landed in the middle of the Spit and burned. I was given the dubious honor of escorting his body back to his wife who lived in Pensacola, Florida. It was a long and arduous journey as transportation was by train the those days.” There is a copy of his TDY orders for this duty in our records. 
Cold Bay, 1942, From Left to Right: Dave Brough, Robert L. Donley, Dave's Crew. Frank Caughey not shown. All 6 men of VP42 lived in a tent together. (RLD as told to daughter Dianne)
Dad received the Distinguished Flying Cross from the Navy for the June 1-15, 1942 all-night aerial patrols and bombing attacks on Japanese vessels in Kiska Harbor, in the face of tremendous anti-aircraft fire and fierce aerial opposition. His log book records these flights with only the note “nite” attached to them. At this time he was a Lieutenant Junior Grade.
He received the Award of the Air Medal from the Army for landing his PBY in rough seas 50 miles S.E. of Scotch Cape to rescue survivors of a downed Eleventh Air Force B-24. He took the survivors aboard and on to Cold Bay. This occurred on June 20, 1942. There is no note against the log of that day in his book. 
Cold Bay, Alaska, 1942. Dave Brough and crew, VP-42
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1943: VP-45 Attu, Alaska, Sitting on wing of my PBY, VP45. As told by Robert Lee Donley to daugher Dianne. He is third from left.
By November, Dad passed the Patrol Plane Commander check and became “in all respects qualified as Patrol Plane Commander (PPC), fully qualified to fly PBY type airplanes…” Signed JS Russell, Lt-CDR-USN, Commanding. (From his Aviators Flight Log). On Nov. 7, 1942 Dad was ordered COD to Fleet Air Wing Six, NAS Seattle. Signed L.E. Gehres. Reported to J.A. Horton, Jr.
In Dad’s own account, which follows, he states that the “formation of VP-45 began in late February of 1943 when I and Wiljo Lindgren were called into the Commander, Fleet Air at Sand Point (Seattle) and directed to form a squadron of six PBY’s to be known as VP-45… The Admiral [Wagner] said he would call us back to Seattle when the mission was finished and give us a duty assignment of our choosing.” Our records show that subsequently Dad was given the following orders: April 21, 1943: “In accordance with dispatch instructions of Commander Fleet Air West Coast, which cannot be quoted herein, “ detached from FAW 6, to proceed to the port in which Patrol Squadron 45 may be. Signed C.E. Giese. Reported to R.W. Morse, NAS Seattle. April 22, 1943 Dad was ordered COD to proceed with six airplanes and crews assigned to Commander, Fleet Air Seattle. Signed C.E. Giese. Reported to R.W. Morse. 
Attu, Alaska, 1943, VP45. From left to right - The Aeorologist Lt. Cmd.Russ Maynard, Robert Lee Donley, Commanding Officer, The Intelligence Officer "Judge" R. Delafield. As told by Donley to Daughter Dianne
 Above: Dad's First Person Account of VP45 in the Squadron Newsletter in 1997
Mom mailed an account entitled “VP-45: The First Squadron Based At Attu,” by Lt. William H. Maxwell, PPC-Pilot and Lt. Erwin H. Johnson, PPC-Pilot. Excerpts from the account describe the formation of the squadron. (There are two photos at Attu in our records (posted here).
“The early history of VP-45 is unique in that it started with six flight crews hastily assembled and commanded by the senior office, Lt. Robert L. Donley. The Naval Air Station at Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island, Washington, became operational in early 1943. Shortly after 1 January 1943, pilots and crews were gradually assigned to the station for operational training in the Consolidated Aircraft - The PBY (The Old Gray Goose). Flight instruction was under the direction of Lt. Robert L. Donley, Lt. Marshall Freerks, Lt. J.A. Lindgruen, Lt. Jones and several others, all of whom had previous flight experience in the Aleutians, and enemy action at Dutch Harbor…. At the time the islands of Kiska and Attu had been taken by the Japanese. They were well entrenched and fortified in preparation for expanding up the Aleutian chain to the mainland of Alaska and the northwest. Lt. Robert L. Donley was placed in Command. On April 21 VP-45 was commissioned. The squadron was ordered to report to Pat Wing Four Commander Adak (Leslie Gehres) on the island of Adak in the Aleutians, leaving NAS Sand Point, Seattle on that same day, on a secret mission. It was a group of maverick Navy Pilots and Crew who quickly learned survival tactics and midnight reconnaissance. Foraging, innovation and improvisation became top priority and the order of the day.” During April and May of 1943 Dad’s log book shows flights in a PBY45 from Seattle to Sitka (6 hours), Sitka to Kodiak (4 hours); and in a PBY 5 from Kodiak to Dutch Harbor (6.5 hours) Dutch to Adak (4.1 hours) and from Adak to Attu (11 hours). On May 25 he logged an 8 hour flight to 45 miles from Kamchatka. His log for May 30 shows a long flight and his notes on the flight say “Army Rescue”. Mom sent us an article from American Magazine, Aug. 1943 by Major Ira F. Wintermute, U.S. Army Air Forces. It is his account of going down with his Army plane in the fog and rescued by a Navy PBY. Dad’s name is not in the article, but he told us that the rescue plane was his and he was the pilot (“ME” is written next to the paragraph about him). The article is online at http://www.windemuth.org/adobe/january-2013.pdf . This is the Wintermute family newsletter. The article starts on the right hand side of page 2 and continues on page 4. We have the original article from the magazine in our files. It is the best description one could find on what it was like to fly at that time under those conditions. The account by Maxwell and Johnson concludes: "28 September 1943. Two Crews of the original six crews were ordered to return to NAS Sand Point. By this time the planes were beginning to show signs of salt water damage and stress. We departed Attu with stops at Adak, Dutch harbor, Kodiak and Sitka. We knew that the planes would withstand just a few more sea landings. As we approached Vancouver Island, we encountered bad weather with the ceiling down to several hundred feet with visibility of no more than a mile. Johnstone joined up on Chaddick’s wing and we flew in formation as we picked our way toward Neah Bay. We picked up the radio range at Everett and worked the range and made an instrument approach, still in formation, landing on Lake Washington at NAS Sand Point. The many hours we had spent on instruments and working that radio range the previous spring really paid of that day. Shortly thereafter the rest of the squadron left Attu for NAS Sand Point and was given 30 day leave with orders to report back to NAS Oak Harbor, where most of the original PPC’s were reassigned and the 1st pilots promoted to PPC. Mom's note to us at the end of this article: "then we got married and moved to Jacksonville". The March 2018 issue of The VP45 Association Newsletter has a cover story on the first commanding officer of VP45, Robert L. Donley. At St. Stephens Episcopal church in Laurelhust, Dad married mom (Marjorie Jean Culler, then in a civil service position with the Army Engineers at Seattle) on October 23, 1943. The reception was at Malloy Manor. Mom always told us they stayed at the Vance Hotel. Apparently no photos were taken at the wedding or the reception!. Dad’s orders shortly after were: Oct. 25, 1943: Addressed as Commander, Patrol Squadron 45. Ordered COD NAO Training Command, NAS Jacksonville, FLA. Cautioned not to reveal secrets. Signed E.A. Cruise, Chief of Staff Nov. 22, 1943: Addressed as Lieutenant, USNR. Ordered COD to Commandant NAS, Jacksonville for duty involving flying. Signed J.P. Farnham July 12, 1944: Ordered COD to NAS Shawnee, Oklahoma. Signed A.C. McFall February 3, 1945: Dianne Jean Donley was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma. April 4, 1945: Ordered COD to NA Navigation School, NAS, Clinton, Oklahoma. Signed W.L. Richards Aug. 14-15, 1945 Armed forces of Japan surrender to the Allied Powers, ending World War II Email Contact: info@diannehofbeck.com An extensive account of RLD's career can be viewed at https://www.vp45association.org/_newsletters/NL-59.pdf |