DONALD C. BREWINGTON, LT, USN

Donald Brewington '39

Date of birth: July 3, 1916

Date of death: August 22, 1942

Age: 26

Lucky Bag

From the 1939 Lucky Bag:

DONALD CECIL BREWINGTON

Muncie, Indiana

Don, Brew

Fervently even though tritely, he means it when he says "Indiana — God's country," as his contribution to discussions on home states. Athletically inclined, spring invariably starts Don to vaulting. The rest of the year it's some form of batt athletics. Always on the hall academically, he's taken the departments seriously. He has a flair for well-filled address books, and consequently a reputation for above-average drags. An even temper makes him the balance wheel of his room, even in heated debates. Truly, he has frequently been the oil required to smooth a troubled sea of argument. Consistently he avoids snap judgments and hasty, unsound generalizations. That even temper and conscientiousness are going to make for steady, even sailing of his well laid-out course.

Track 4, 2, l; Football 2, 1; Trident Society 2, 1: 2 Stripes.

DONALD CECIL BREWINGTON

Muncie, Indiana

Don, Brew

Fervently even though tritely, he means it when he says "Indiana — God's country," as his contribution to discussions on home states. Athletically inclined, spring invariably starts Don to vaulting. The rest of the year it's some form of batt athletics. Always on the hall academically, he's taken the departments seriously. He has a flair for well-filled address books, and consequently a reputation for above-average drags. An even temper makes him the balance wheel of his room, even in heated debates. Truly, he has frequently been the oil required to smooth a troubled sea of argument. Consistently he avoids snap judgments and hasty, unsound generalizations. That even temper and conscientiousness are going to make for steady, even sailing of his well laid-out course.

Track 4, 2, l; Football 2, 1; Trident Society 2, 1: 2 Stripes.

Loss

Donald was lost when USS Buck (DD 420) collided with a ship she was escorting on August 22, 1942 off the coast of Nova Scotia. The ship did not sink, but Donald was among several of her crew who was killed.

Other Information

Donald attended Muncie elementary schools and graduated from Royerton High School in 1934. He was president of the senior class and played on the basketball team.
He was appointed to the Naval Academy by Congressman Finly H. Gray.
He was also survived by a sister Louise.

From the Muncie Evening Press, September 28, 1942:

Lt. Donald C. Brewington kept himself ready for life's emergencies by constantly building up his spiritual reserves, Dr. A. W. Pugh, pastor of High Street Methodist Church, said Sunday morning in paying tribute to the 26-year-old naval officer who is reported missing in action. Lt. Brewington, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest H. Brewington, Moore Road, was a member of the High Street Church since he was a child.
Dr. Pugh used as his text, "For I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand," from II Timothy, 4-6.
"I have chosen this word 'Ready' as my theme because it is so completely fitting to the life and career of Donald C. Brewington, to whose loving memory the service of this church is dedicated this morning," said Dr. Pugh.
"Some few months ago Donald was showing his father the appointments of the ship in which he took such a great pride. They stood together in the pilot-house, which, he explained was enclosed with bullet-proof glass. When his father suggested that this sounded dangerous, Donald smilingly minimized the peril but concluded, 'however, Dad, the unexpected may happen, but we're ready.' Here was a motor that his life and service exemplified, an ideal upon which he built his life. 'The unexpected may happen but I am ready.' And when a month ago the word came that he was missing in the service of his country, everyone who had ever known him joined his parents in saying 'the unexpected has happened but Donald was ready.'
Won High Scout Honors
"This preparation for life here and hereafter began in the training of his home and his boyhood interest in the Sunday school and church where he learned the high principles of Christian life from which he never swerved. On Easter Sunday before his ninth birthday he stood like a little man at the altars of this church, was baptized and publicly declared his purpose to be true to God.
"There can be no doubt that in his boyhood his interest in scouting also was an important element in the laying of the foundation for his life. For five years he was a registered Boy Scout in the troop sponsored by this church and under the leadership of outstanding citizens of the community he steadily rose until he had attained the greatly coveted rank of Eagle Bronze Palm Scout in January, 1933. A number of leaders of scouting, together with Eagle Scouts of his acquaintance are present this morning to bear their silent but affectionate tribute to him. Boy Scout leaders can view with pride the accomplishments of this Eagle Scout to whom the scout motto, 'Be Prepared,' was taken with such utter seriousness and to whom the scout oath to 'keep myself physically strong, mentally alert and morally straight was so sacred and inviolable.
Dr. Pugh told of his careful preparation in school, of his winning a Rector scholarship to DePauw University, his attendance at the U. S. Naval Academy, his graduation and then the beginning of his career with the U. S. Navy.
"He knew that danger was involved in such a career but he never fretted over taking the risks involved," he continued. "He laughed at the risks to relieve the burden of those he loved but always he knew the dangers that lurked within the deep. And always he went his happy way, prepared in body, mind and soul, looking into the mists, his face washed by the ocean's spray, and was always saying, "the unexpected may happen but I am ready.' And he was.
Praised by School Principal.
Lt. Brewington kept ready by constantly building up his spiritual reserves, the minister said. He was proud to sit in the services of the church with his parents "and the records show how constantly the church was in his thoughts when hundreds of miles away." Dr. Pugh said a short time ago, when his most recent advancement came, Lt. Brewington "wrote asking us to increase his financial support to the church."
As all face an uncertain tomorrow, what message is there, Dr. Pugh asked. For Lt. Brewington's comrades it is to be ready, for his family "to whom he was so attentive it is to be ready, too, ready to go forth and set an example for other parents who will be following in the pathway of sorrow which they now tread."
Clifford C. French, principal of Royerton High School, which Lt. Brewington attended, praised him as a student and as a man.
A plaque bearing the names of the High Street Church men who have gone to the service was dedicated. It contains 49 names and besides that of Lt. Brewington is a gold star.

His parents were listed as next of kin.

He has a memory marker in Indiana.

Photographs

From the Lucky Bag
From Muncie Evening Press on August 26, 1942
From The Evening Sun on March 9, 1939

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.