40 years later, a heroic and fatal mission is top-secret no more
Paul Donato was a city kid from Roslindale who loved to work on cars, a tough young man who wasn't afraid of anyone or anything, his brother said.
"That's just the way he was," said Joseph Donato. "He felt that when God wanted him, when God called, he was going to die. And that's the way he kind of lived."
So it made sense, Joseph Donato said, when he learned that his brother, who was declared missing in action 40 years ago during the Vietnam War, was a member of a top-secret Navy air squadron that flew highly dangerous missions over the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
"I said, . . . 'That's Paulie all the way,' " said Donato, 62, of Canton.
Observation Squadron 67, known as the "Ghost Squadron," was recently awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for "extraordinary heroism and outstanding performance of duty." Today, Joseph Donato and Paul's two other brothers, along with other family members, will attend a ceremony honoring the unit at the United States Navy Memorial's Naval Heritage Center in Washington.
The squadron's planes, flying at extremely low altitudes, dropped sensors that were intended to track the movement of enemy troops and supplies. The intelligence provided by the sensors enabled US forces to prevent the Marine base at Khe Sanh from being overrun during the Tet Offensive in 1968, helping to save "countless lives," the citation said.
But the low-flying planes were choice targets for enemy gunners on the ground.
Joseph Donato said that his brother, an electronics specialist and navigator, was killed when his Modified P2V-5 Neptune plane was shot down in February 1968 on a mission dropping the sensors near Khe Sanh. Paul Donato was 28, with a wife and three children.
In the early 1990s, searchers found a handful of remains and personal effects from Paul Donato and the other men in his crew. The families agreed to have all the items buried together with military honors in 1994 in Arlington National Cemetery.
For decades, because the unit had been top secret, the family was in the dark about what Paul Donato had done. "He was missing in action, that was all we knew," Joseph Donato said.
But in recent years, he said, the family has learned more, with former members of the unit contacting them.
"They started sending us letters and calling us up and telling us who they were," he said. "We're just totally proud. It's just incredible." 