Captain Douglas Cornelius Cannon III (Major)
Douglas Cornelius Cannon was born on December 9th, 1929 in Norfolk, Virginia and attended Norview High School. He enlisted in the Virginia National Guard on July 2nd, 1947, graduated Artillery School along with infantry training school, and after completing jump school, joined Company I, 504th Airborne Infantry Battalion. Cannon was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on May 5th 1952, and in that same year, he married Dorothea Elizabeth Weaver in North Carolina. As an officer, 2nd Lt Cannon took on the duties as a platoon leader with the 504th until transferring to Headquarters, 45th Infantry Division on June 23rd, 1952 as their new battalion S3. When he joined his unit in deployed to Korea on December 2nd, 1952, he now assisted in combat operations planning as they jumped into battle.
Korea Almost immediately, Chinese and North Korean forces launched an attack on Hill 812 and the entire division line in early 1953, but they managed to beat them back and hold most of their ground under heavy assaults. 2nd Lt Cannon was awarded his first Bronze Star with combat "V" for "Heroic achievement in the vicinity of Nae-Dong, Korea on 8 July 1953" less than 20 days before an armistice was signed that ended the war, and a second "For meritorious achievement in Korea from 4 January 1953 to 4 July 1953. Nevertheless, Cannon remained in Korea to patrol the Korean Demilitarized Zone until returning home on October 3rd. Shortly after his arrival, he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant on November 30th and began advanced training for half a year. His experience from Artillery School and Korea led to a new MOS, Artillery Forward Observer, on October 27th, 1954. After a lull in his service during which he was promoted, Captain Cannon was transferred to Company E, 1st Airborne Battle Group, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment while this unit was a PENTOMIC battle group under the Reorganization of the Airborne Division in the late 1950’s-early 1960’s. He would remain in the unit until November of 1962 when he would join the USAEUR’s 53rd Area Support Group, and then the 509th Infantry Regiment as their commanding officer. Vietnam After leaving Europe, Captain Cannon was sent to Project Delta (B-52), 5th Special Forces Group for deployment to Vietnam as a Captain in logistics on July 12th, 1966. B52 was the birthplace of Long Range Reconnaissance operations which had been operating in the jungle since 1964 and was a highly secretive program. Cannon carried out his duties in logistics for nearly a year, during which he was personally awarded the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Bronze Star "for heroic actions on 20 March 1967" during the classified Operation 4-67 in An Khe and Lao Valley. His tour ended on April 25th, 1967 and he once again returned to the United States and held a Reserve Commission, eventually retiring as a Major. After the war, Mr. Cannon became an active member of the Special Forces Association and moved to King County, Washington, eventually passing away on September 14th 2013, aged 83. He is buried in Tahoma National Cemetery in Washington. |
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