Donald Aunapu

Donald Aunapu

Lt Col Donald S. Aunapu passed away, surrounded by his family, on October 14, 2025. Don was born on September 12, 1934, in Chosen, Florida to Elizabeth Bae Der and Frede Aunapu. He graduated from Belle Glade High School in 1952 and enlisted in the Naval Reserves at Naval Air Station Key West. While there, Don was selected into the Air Force via the Aviation Cadet Program. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and then subsequently awarded his pilot's wings in 1956.

Don's first assignment out of Pilot Training took him to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, in 1957 as a newly minted F-86 Super-Sabre fighter pilot. Deployments in the F-86 took this young farm kid to places he only read about: Italy, France, Spain and Libya. But the most significant event was meeting his wife, Margrit Kramer, in Frankfurt, Germany. Together, they had two sons and traveled the world through multiple assignments in Europe, the Far East and the U.S.

Throughout Don's career, he flew more than 5000 hours in both fighters and bombers, to include the F-86, F-105, F-4, T-33 and B-52. An incredibly humble man, he would never talk about his combat missions in Vietnam. While there, he flew over 100 missions in the F-105 Thunderchief, receiving the Silver Star, 3 Distinguished Flying Crosses and innumerable Air Medals. During his tour, he was selected into the initial pilot cadre for Ryan's Raiders, a secretive and specialized F-105 unit flying highly modified aircraft. Their mission was to fly low altitude at night traversing treacherous terrain utilizing only their radar to navigate and bomb strategic targets. This was an extremely dangerous mission for the time, and it took nearly two decades for technology to catch up with what they were flying in 1967.

Colonel Aunapu retired from the Air Force in 1985 while assigned to Headquarters Europe, Ramstein Air Base, thus ending his storied career at the very place it started 28 years earlier. Following his Air Force retirement, Don and Margrit would eventually settle in Albuquerque where they fell in love with the blue sky and amazing landscapes. He found his second career as a contract specialist in Emergency Management working at Kirtland Air Force Base and then for the State of New Mexico in Santa Fe.

Don is survived by his beloved wife of 66 years, Margrit; sons Sven (Lori) of Powder Springs, GA; Kevin (Jocelyn) of Yorktown, VA and 6 grandchildren, Corbin, Darien, Spencer, Paityn, Christian and Garrett. Colonel Aunapu will be interned at Arlington National Cemetery at a future date.