Donald Bradford Beary (4 December 1888 – 7 March 1966) was a vice admiral of the United States Navy. His career included service in both World War I and World War II and a tour as President of the Naval War College. He commanded a wide variety of ships and organizations, and is particularly noted for his leadership during World War II in establishing and directing a large-scale U.S. Navy training program and for his pioneering and highly successful work as a commander of U.S. Navy underway replenishment forces.
Naval career
Beary was born on 4 December 1888 in Helena, Montana. He entered the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1906 and graduated in 1910. His first assignments were aboard three armored cruisers, from 1910 to 1911, from 1912 to 1914, and during 1914. He then attended Columbia University in New York City from 1915 to 1917, and received a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the university in 1917.
World War I
After the United States entered World War I on 6 April 1917, Beary served in the Atlantic on convoy duty and in antisubmarine warfare against German submarines, commanding the armed yacht from 1917 to 1918 and then the destroyer in 1918. He received the Navy Cross in 1918 for distinguished service as commanding officer of Remlik and Lamson in the Atlantic campaign.
Interwar
A lieutenant commander by the end of World War I, Bearys first post-war assignment was duty at the U.S. Navy Bureau of Navigation from 1919 to 1921. He then commanded three destroyers, in 1921, from 1921 to 1922, and from 1922 to 1923. From 1923 to 1924 he served ashore at the United States Department of the Navy in Washington, D.C., in the Division of Fleet Training, Navy Operations. He then returned to sea with duty aboard the battleship from 1925 to 1927, seeing service in the Second Nicaraguan Campaign.
From 1928 to 1930, Beary taught at the United States Naval Academy. He then served on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, United States Asiatic Fleet, from 1931 to 1934, seeing service on the Yangtze Patrol. From 1934 to 1935, he was assigned to duty with the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington, D.C. He then served on the staff of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1936.
Beary went back to sea in 1937 as executive officer of the battleship , serving aboard her until 1938, when he was promoted to captain. He then was commanding officer of the light cruiser from 1938 to 1939 before returning to duty at the United States Naval Academy, serving a second tour as an instructor there from 1939 until 1941. On 1 October 1941, he became commanding officer of both the troop transport and Transport Division 19.
World War II
Mount Vernon was in the Atlantic Ocean as part of a convoy steaming from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, bound for Cape Town, South Africa, when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II on 7 December 1941. She proceeded via the Cape of Good Hope and the Indian Ocean to Singapore, arriving there on 13 January 1942. In port until 16 January 1942, she landed desperately needed reinforcements and evacuated refugees despite frequent Japanese air raids, herself coming under air attack. She then operated in the Indian Ocean and Southwest Pacific until March 1942 to move additional reinforcements from the Middle East to Southeast Asia and evacuate refugees from Australia. Beary received the Bronze Star Medal in 1943 for meritorious achievement in these operations, and was especially cited for his conspicuous professional ability, leadership, and organization during Mount Vernons stay in Singapore.