Sons of Veterans Reserve Commanding Officer Brigadier General Donald E. Darby, PCinC

Donald E. Darby, of Chillicothe, Ohio became the 7th Commanding Officer of the Sons of Veterans Reserve in November 2023 with the retirement of Major General Robert Grim.

General Darby is the son of the late Air Force SMSgt Eugene Balser and Delores Darby and was born in Barberton, Ohio. He was raised in Athens County Ohio and graduated from Alexander High School, Albany, Ohio in 1971. After graduation he joined the United States Navy where he rose to the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 4 (CWO4). While in the Navy he served on the USS Enterprise (CVAN-65), USS Nimitz (CVN-68) and the USS America (CV-66), at CINCUSNAVEUR (London, UK), Navy and Marine Corps Intelligence Training Center (NMITC), Fleet Intelligence Europe and Atlantic (FICEURLANT), Atlantic Intelligence Command (AIC), SEAL Team FOUR and various other commands and schools. He also managed to attend college while in the Navy, graduating sum laude from St. Leo College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminology.

Following his retirement from the Navy in 1994, General Darby was employed at the Ross County (Ohio) Court of Common Pleas Juvenile and Probate Court, first as a Juvenile Probation officer and later as the Mediator and Court Administrator until his retirement in 2021.

He joined the SUVCW 30 July 1988 at the then Governor Dennison Camp 125 in Athens, Ohio where he served as Camp Secretary/Treasurer. He later became a charter member of Sgt. Richard Enderlin Camp 73 in Chillicothe, Ohio where he served in all the chairs through Camp Commander.

At the Department level he held positions as Patriotic Instructor, Graves Registration Officer (registering of 5,000 GAR gravesites). He was elected Ohio Department Commander in 2001. He also brought to fruition the “Last Soldier Project in the Ohio Department which was later adopted as a National Project by the SUVCW.”

Nationally Darby served two terms as National Patriotic Instructor, a full three-year term as a member of the Council of Administration, during this time and in coordination with the National webmaster (PCINC Keith Harrison) he brought the “Patriotic Recollections” and the “Teachers and Scholars” to the National Web page, Junior and Senior Vice Commander-in-Chief.

Darby was elected as Commander-in-Chief of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War 2005-2006.

Following his term as Commander-in-Chief he has served several terms as National Councilor to various Commanders-in-Chief.

General Darby also supported the SUVCW Charitable Foundation by transcribing on Compact Discs the GAR and SUV Blue Books, The History of the Grand Army of the Republic by Robert Beath, Camp Fire Chats by Washington Davis. For Sgt. Enderlin Camp he transcribed “The Early History of the Department of the Grand Army of the Republic (1866-1880)” by T.D. McGillicuddy.

General Darby’s membership in the SUVCW and SVR is through his Great Uncle George Kidd, a private in the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry Company C.

It should be noted that General Darby is a son-in-law and brother-in-law to Past Commanders-in-Chief David R, (CinC 1996) and David V. Medert (CinC 2008). This is the first family in the SUVCW to has three Commanders-in-Chief in the history of the SUVCW/SVR.

* Other SUVCW Brothers who have had the honor to serve as the Commanding Officer of the SVR include, Major General Robert E. Grim, PCinC (2007-2024)   Brigadier General David V. Medert, PCinC (1997 – 2007), Brigadier General Keith G. Harrison, PCinC (1996 - 1997), Brigadier General Charles Corfman, PCinC (1990 - 1996), Brigadier General Richard Schlenker, PCinC (1989 - 1990), and Brigadier General Chester S. Shriver, PCinC (1967 - 1989).

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