Donald F. van Eynde
One of my US Army battalion commanders was Lieutenant Colonel Donald F. van Eynde.
As I mentioned in my military memories, I served in the battalion headquarters element for a time under his command. He was one of the very few field grade officers I had any opportunity to observe at somewhat close range during my career, and I rather liked him. He seemed quite competent, and I wouldn't have minded going to war under his command.
As I was writing this, what I loosely call my "memoirs", I wondered whatever happened to him, and a quick Bing search yielded some results!
After he left 2/39 INF, he was assigned as the executive officer of the US Army Organizational Effectiveness Center and School, at Fort Ord, California. The informational brochure about the school that I found online listed his rank as LTC(P). The "(P)" in a rank designation indicates that the soldier is "Promotable". Which in turn means that the soldier has been slated to be promoted, but hasn't yet pinned the new rank on. So, I take it that he was eventually promoted to full colonel.
In an entry in Bing.com for ZoomInfo (the actual referenced page no longer exists) it noted that he was "the Chair, Crisis Management Team at Trinity University based in San Antonio, Texas. Previously, Donald was the U. S. Army at U.S. Mission to the United Nations." Further information I found online indicated that he was the chair of the Business Administration department at Trinity University.
There is at least one book authored by him, published in 1997, "Organization Development Classics: The Practice and Theory of Change--The Best of the OD Practitioner," with his wife, Dixie Cody van Eynde, listed as editor. The book appears to be a compilation of organizational development articles.
He was born on 7 September 1937, probably in Texas. As of this writing (January 2024), he would be 86 years old, and since I found him on Facebook today having posted about his 50th wedding anniversary back in August 2023, it seems he's still kicking!
