Friday, April 25, 1997
Ex-admiral's name goes on airfield
Florida Times-Union

Adm. Jay Johnson, the Navy's top officer, was still just a midshipman at the Naval Academy when retired Adm. David L. McDonald of Mayport held the post Johnson serves in today.

This week, Johnson, the chief of naval operations, honored his predecessor of more than three decades by dedicating the airfield at Mayport Naval Station in his name.

''I'm almost at a loss for words,'' said McDonald, 90, who led the Navy from 1963 to 1967. ''Prior totoday, I have received one or two honors, but nothing like this. This is the greatest honor of my life, and I might say the greatest surprise.''

Johnson praised McDonald, the 17th chief of naval operations, as ''an officer of the highest caliber, an aviator without equal and a gentlemen of absolutely the first order.''

He credited McDonald, director of air warfare in the mid-1950s, with building the combat air force the Navy flew in Vietnam and with guiding the service through the initial stages of Vietnam.

''Adm. McDonald's firm hand on the tiller of our Navy allowed us to see our way clearly through a time of great, tumultuous upheaval in this country and in our military,'' Johnson said.

Capt. Jan Gaudio, Mayport's commanding officer, said the base first started looking into naming the airfield for McDonald about six months ago. At the time, he said, nobody was certain whether the field ever had been formally named.

It had not. Johnson dedicated it Monday as Adm. David L. McDonald Operational Airfield.