Donald
Owen Wissinger
(From: The Wissinger
Genealogy, 1976)
Donald Owen Wissinger was born at Kokomo, Howard Co., Indiana on Dec 9, 1905, the eldest child of Charley Homer Wissinger and Laura Ross. His paternal ancestors are 400 years of Wissinger goldsmiths from Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. And his maternal ancestors are the Birchard family that gave rise to the Montmorency family of Europe, and the Ross family, earliest known, at Renfrew, England. Donald attended grade school at St. Paul, Minnesota; Onward, Indiana and Logansport, Cass Co., Indiana. He graduated Logansport High School, where as varsity basketball, football and track teams earned him nine letters. Church - Methodist, Logansport, Indiana. He and Defaun Manelle Alber, after high school together and graduating together, were married the following fall [Oct. 7, 1924]. Graduate, Indiana University 1929 - B.S. in Sciences (Chemistry and Physics); Graduate, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana. Received M.D. in 1931. Internship and post-graduate training in surgery approximately five years. Fellow, American College of Surgeons and International College of Surgeons. Occupation - Physician and Surgeon, M.D., F.A.C.S., for approximately 37 years; part-time teaching of General Surgery approximately fifteen years, while in U.S. Naval Service and during private practice. Military - U.S. Naval Medical Officer, regular Service, 1931-1954; just preceding and during W.W.II, at sea in European Theater and with convoys across the northern Atlantic, 1942-43; then moved to southern Pacific and served on Staff of Comr. Naval Bases, Solomon Islands, 1943; then served on Staff of Admiral Reifsnider in Amphibious Forces, making amphibious assaults and recovery of Pacific Islands. At the end of W.W.II, in the Pacific, remained on Staff of Admiral Riefsnider and had a part in delivering the occupation forces for southern Japan; was present, with the Staff of Admiral Riefsnider, aboard his flagship, the Mt. McKinley, in the Inland Sea of Japan, at the Japanese Naval Base, Kuri, Japan, for the formal exercises for taking over and occupying of southern Japan; supervised medical operations ashore and afloat for initial period of occupation in the area. Japanese medical institutions and services required reestablishment; also conducted a part of medical investigations made at Hiroshima area, following the atomic blast that destroyed the city, near the end of the war. Following end of WW-II, returned to United States; served as Chief of Surgery and Executive Officer at Naval Hospitals. At time of Korean War (1950) was transferred to that area and served as Staff Medical Officer, 7th Fleet, on Staff of Vice Admiral Struble, Senior Command afloat (General McArthur in Command of forces ashore and of the forces in Japan). Following War in Korea, returned to United States and served at Naval Hospital in San Diego, California until retirement from military service in 1954, with the rank of Captain, M.C., U.S.N. Donald then entered private practice of General Surgery at San Diego, California and continued practice of medicine and surgery until February, 1978, when he retired from medical practice to become Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Deond, Inc., a corporation operating for recovery of products from the sea. Dr. Wissinger was the compiler and publisher of the Wissinger Genealogy in 1976 and died on April 26, 1986 in La Jolla, California.