Foil: 6 Panel: Distinguished Flying Cross Society Column: 2 Line: 41

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

Lt Sgt. Donald Barnett was born in Canton, Illinois on November 14, 1921. From 1939 through 1941 he attended Ranken Trade School in St. Louis, Missouri. Following his years in trade school he was a part of the Curtiss Wright Corp from 1941-1942 and was in the US Navy Reserves from 1942 to 1945. In 1943, he graduated from the United States Naval Aerial Navigation School, and in 1945 he was discharged in Pensacola, Florida as a Lt Sgt. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross Award and a Purple Heart. Barnett graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1949 and received his MBA from the University of Michigan in 1950. That same year he began his career at General Motors in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1954 he began working at Gould Inc. and he remained there until 1978, when he moved to San Diego, California to work at General Dynamics as a part of their Space Program, working with cruise missiles.