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.

Sources Commonwealth War Graves Commission findagrave