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Colonel Donald
Roderick Perkins
1927 - 2004
A descendent of John Perkins who arrived in Massachusetts
in 1630, Colonel Donald R. Perkins was born on April 15,
1927 in Peabody, Massachusetts, the son of Alfred
Manchester Perkins and Ruth Antoinette Arth Perkins. He
grew up in Las Cruces, New Mexico, graduated from Las Cruces Union
High School and was drafted into the Army in 1945. He
served as a non-commissioned officer in grades up to First
Sergeant and then completed Third Army Officer Candidate
School in Seckenheim, Germany, in 1947. He served as a
Second Lieutenant in the Fifth Field Artillery until
leaving active service at the end of 1947. In 1950, while
attending New Mexico State University, he was recalled to
active duty for service in the Korean War. In 1955 he
received his Bachelor of Arts degree in History.
Until 1960 he served in various National Guard assignments
in New Mexico and Wisconsin. In 1961, Col. Perkins
returned to active duty with the 32nd Infantry Division
Artillery during the Berlin buildup. On graduation from
the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in 1962,
he reported to the National Guard Bureau, Departments of
the Army and Air Force, in the Pentagon where he served as
a staff officer. Later, he was transferred to the Office
of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Military Operations as a
Guard Bureau advisor to that office. In 1971, he was
promoted to Colonel and assigned as the National Guard
Advisor to the Commanding General, United States
Continental Army Command, Fort Monroe, Virginia. He
retired from active service in 1975. As a civilian, he
served as Army Activities Director at the National Guard
Association of the U.S. in Washington, DC, from which
position he retired in 1987. He was later employed as a
defense consultant to BMY Corp. and as librarian and
archivist for the National Guard Association.
While in the service, Col. Perkins attended the Advanced
Field Artillery course, the General Staff College, and the
US Army War College. Col. Perkins received the Legion of
Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal
with Oak Leaf Cluster, National Defense Service Medal,
WWII Victory Medal, Korean Service Medal with 3 Bronze
Service Stars, and the Department of the Army General
Staff Badge, among other awards. He was inducted into the
Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame at Ft. Benning,
Georgia, in 1981.
Col. Perkins was a long-time member of the Episcopal
Church of the Ascension and St. Agnes in Washington, DC.
As an accomplished long-distance runner, he ran in the
Boston and New York City marathons. He was also an avid
student of military history, speaking on the subject at
many events in Washington, DC and New Mexico. His
articles on military history have appeared in various
publications.
Colonel Perkins is the father of four children: Karen
Elizabeth Perkins Willis, Frank Sutherland Perkins III,
Cynthia Oleta Perkins, and Kathryn Sue Perkins Holguin.
He died on May 30, 2004, in Las Cruces, NM, and is buried
at Arlington National Cemetery.
Memberships
* National Gavel Society
* General Society of Colonial Wars
* Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York
* National Society Americans of Royal Descent
* Order of the Crown of Charlemagne in the United States
of America
*
Hereditary Order of the Descendants of Colonial Governors
* General Society of Mayflower Descendents
* Hereditary
Order Descendants Loyalists & Patriots American Revolution
(former Governor General)
* National Society Sons of Colonial New England (former
Governor General)
* Military Order of Foreign Wars
(former
Commander of the District of the
Columbia Commandery; former National Delegate)
* Baronial Order of Magna Charta
* Order of the Founders and Patriots of America
* General Society Sons of the Revolution
* National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution
* Order of Americans of Armorial Ancestry
* Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of
Massachusetts
*
National Huguenot Society
* Society of the Descendents of the Colonial Clergy
* Society of Descendants of Knights of the Garter
* Descendants of the Founders of Hartford
* Flagon &
Trencher: Descendants of Colonial Tavern Keepers
* Order of the First Families of Massachusetts
* Military Order of the World Wars
* Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
Chivalric Orders
*
Sovereign Military Order of the
Temple of Jerusalem (Grand Prior IX)
* Most
Venerable Order of Saint John of Jerusalem (Grand Priory
in the
British Realm)
*
Hospitaller
Order of Saint John of Jerusalem (former
Commander and
Bailiff)
*
Military and Hospitaller
Order of Saint Lazarus of
Jerusalem (Officer)
* Ordo Sancti Constantini Magni
(former Bailiff for Eastern United States)
Other Notes
Col. Perkins was an active member of the
American Legion; the
American Military Institute; the
Army War College Foundation; the
Reserve Officers Association; the
Retired Officers Association; the
Augustan Society; the
Company of Military Historians; the
Council on America’s Military Past; the
Historical Society of the Militia and National Guard; the
International Chivalric Institute; and the
Military History Society of the Southwest;
He was also member of the
Saint David's Welsh-American Society;
the
National Guard Association of the United States; the
National Trust for Historic Preservation;
New England Historical and Genealogical Society; and the
New Mexico Historical Society |
