Included in the Watsonville Register-Pajaronian May 25, 1945, listing of Pajaro Valley World War II casualties is the name of Donald Monroe, a resident of San Benito County.

Donald Monroe was born in Illinois in 1924 to Mr. and Mrs. John Monroe, who later moved to the Aromas district of the Pajaro Valley. In addition to Donald, the Monroe family included sons Theodore and John, and daughters Goldie, Bluebell and Rae. Donald completed grammar school, but there is no record of his having attended high school. In early 1943, he was employed by the railroad as a brakeman and was financially assisting his parents.

Donald Monroe was inducted into the army on March 4, 1943, in San Francisco and sent to Fort Rucker, Alabama. While training at Fort Rucker, Monroe was riding a motorcycle during maneuvers and was involved in an accident that fractured his collarbone. After recovering, he was sent to Camp Van Doren, Mississippi, for advanced training and later attached to an unidentified tank destroyer battalion.

In September 1944, Donald Monroe and his unit were shipped overseas and arrived in France in the late fall of that year. On December 5, 1944, Monroe was reported missing in action and remained in that status until the spring of 1945, when the war department confirmed that he had been killed in action. The location of the remains of Donald Monroe is not known.

(NARA2; WRP May 6, 1944 1:1, January 13, 1945 1:3, unk December, 1945)