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Wartime Heritage
ASSOCIATION
Remembering World War II
Donald Alexander Fullerton
Name:
Donald Alexander Fullerton
Rank:
Captain
Service:
10th Baluch Regiment, Indian Army
Date of Birth:
October 12, 1909
Place of Birth:
Long Island, Grand Pré, Kings Co., NS
Date of Enlistment:
June 1940 (with the Duke of
Wellington’s Regiment, British Army)
Place of Enlistment:
India
Age at Enlistment:
30
Date of Death:
November 15, 1942
Age:
33
Cemetery:
Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery, Burma
Reference:
Face 39
Donald Alexander Fullerton was the son of Oliver Fullerton (1875-) and Jettie Maude (Kilcup) Fullerton (1876-
1956) of Windsor, Hants Co., NS. Donald had a sister Beatrice (1905-2000) and a brother Earle (1908-1999).
Donald was the husband of Gladys Mary (Draper) Fullerton of Edinburgh, Scotland (1917-2008).
Donald and his family lived in Digby, NS in 1921, and moved to the United States in 1924, settling in California.
Donald graduated from the Mission, San Francisco, California, High School with high honors and as a "major" in
the Reserve Officers Training Corps. He was also Captain of the Mission Hockey Team in 1929, and worked as a
theatre clerk in 1930 in San Francisco.
After 2 years at the New Mexico School of Mines at Socorro, he entered the University of Washington, Seattle,
in September 1935 and graduated with a B.Sc. degree in geology in 1938. He was a Graduate Teaching Fellow
while pursuing graduate studies at Stanford University during 1938.
In November,1938, Fullerton joined the Standard Oil Company of California, at San Francisco, as assistant
geologist, and in December went to India for the Indian Oil Concessions, Ltd. He was elected an associate
member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologist in 1939.
Fullerton's professional career as geologist for the Indian Oil Concessions, Ltd., was terminated by his
enlistment in the Duke of Wellington's regiment in January, 1940. He was immediately assigned to the Officers
Training Corps and had advanced to the rank of Captain. Captain Fullerton was drowned when his boat capsized
while he was engaged in military exercises near Karachi, India. No other details are available about the details
of his death.
Mr. G. M. Cunningham noted in the bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists that, “Captain
Fullerton's friends will be saddened by this news [of his death]. They knew him as a pleasant companion, as a
gentleman of unfailing courtesy, and as a well trained geologist of great promise in his chosen profession. He is
survived by his wife and infant daughter, and his parents, all of whom reside at 304 Mill Street, Ukiah,
California.”
His date of death is recorded as November 15, 1943, with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, yet his
obituary appears on page 240 of American Association of Petroleum Geologist (AAPG) Bulletin, printed January
1943. His actual date of death was November 15th of the previous year, 1942.
Donald and Glady had one daughter Beatrice M (Fullerton) Pace Tiger (1942-2011). She was married to Robert
Eugene Pace from 1959-1967 and subsequently married Keith Johnson Tiger in 1982.
Captain Donald Alexander Fullerton is commemorated on the panels of the missing on the Rangoon Memorial in
Rangoon, Burma.