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Margaret Donovan (Danner) was stationed at South Post Fort Myer from 1951-1953, and submitted the photos on this page, all taken during that time. She met her husband, Horace Danner, at the South Post Chapel while waiting for a bus to attend a Billy Graham crusade in Washington, DC in 1952, sponsored by the youth fellowship group at the church. Her courtship consisted of chapel activities, strolling through Arlington Cemetery and visiting monuments in the DC area. Marge lived in the WAC barracks in between the Headquarters Company Orderly Room and the post pool, and Horace, who was in the Air Force (and one of few airmen living at Myer) was barracked at Alabama Hall in the northwest section of the post. They became good friends with the Post Chaplain, Harry Rickard, and his wife Reba, and after a year of courtship, they married Marge and Horace in the South Post Chapel, on April 12, 1953. Marge was attached to Headquarters Company, and her duty in The Pentagon was in the Undersecretary of Army Office, where she was a receptionist and stenographer. General Andrew T. McNamara from that office gave her away.
The marriage produced three children, and when the youngest (Steve) started school, Marge went back to college and 12 years later, they both graduated- Steve from high school and Marge from George Mason University. Her two other children had already graduated from college. Marge has been living in Manassas, Virginia, for the past 40 years and during this time she was teaching in the northern Virginia area. She is 78 now, but stays busy by substitute teaching, volunteering at the church and travelling. Steve enlisted in the Army and is now a Lt. Colonel stationed in Afghanistan.
Marge can be contacted at her e mail address: Stonewallroad@hotmail.com |
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ABOVE LEFT: This appears to be taken from near the post gym, looking northeast. The post chapel is on the left and you can see the Washington Monument behind one of the four 'newer' WAC barracks on the south side of the post, near the post pool and tunnel. |
ABOVE RIGHT: Another shot taken from near the gym, looking east toward the south and west faces of The Pentagon.
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ABOVE LEFT: Another view looking north, showing the chapel annex straight ahead and one of the four WAC barracks to the right. |
ABOVE RIGHT: The Headquarters Company Orderly Room (smoke coming out of the chimney) was on Lewis Avenue, and in this view looking west you can see a section of the original Arlington Cemetery and the Custis-Lee Estate on the hill. The photographer is standing at the intersection of Seven Pines Street - the post pool was a block away to the left, and the steep staircase which led to the older section of the post, which was to the right. This view is now the exact location of the Columbarium on the new section of the Cemetery. Kim Holien (Fort Myer Post Historian) has mentioned that he knows of a few veterans who had duty in these buildings and are now buried at the same exact spot.
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ABOVE LEFT: Margaret Donovan by the Orderly Room, looking east on Lewis Avenue. |
ABOVE RIGHT: Margaret and friends await a bus by the chapel annex to take them to a Billy Graham crusade, April 20, 1952. |
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ABOVE LEFT: This shot was taken from near the Orderly Room/WAC barracks looking northwest showing an overview of the newer barracks on the northwest section of South Post. The barracks here each housed different groups of military personnel and were named after different states- shown here are Kansas and Idaho Halls. Marge's husband Horace, an Air Policeman, was barracked with others in the Air Force in Alabama Hall, which is off this photo to the right. Other barracks in this cluster housed officers and NCOs attached to Headquarters Company. Graves in Arlington Cemetery are right behind the barracks and the Custis-Lee Mansion can be seen on the hill. North Post Fort Myer is a short distance behind the mansion.
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ABOVE RIGHT: Mrs. Rickard, the Post Chaplain's wife, stands in front of Marge's barrack. |
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ABOVE LEFT: Horace Danner on patrol at the post theatre- Marge thinks this was the theatre in the Rec Center complex on South Post, but this brick structure also looks a lot like the theatre which was on North Post, and is still standing today. We will try to verify this on our next trip to the post. |
ABOVE RIGHT: Margaret met her husband Horace when both were stationed at South Post. After a year of courtship, they walk down the aisle in the South Post Chapel on April 12, 1953. |
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ABOVE LEFT: Margaret was a PFC here in 1951 (and note the MDW patch above her stripe). As for most in Headquarters Company, her duty was in The Pentagon, in the Under Secretary of the Army Office (3E609) as a receptionist/stenographer. |
ABOVE RIGHT: A youth fellowship group in the chapel annex. Chaplain Rickard is in the rear-left and his wife is to the right. |
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