Donald C Ten Hagen Obituary

Mr. Donald C. Ten Hagen 83 of 2001 S. Lee St., in Americus, GA former resident of Albany died February 23, 2006 at Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus.A native of Rosendale, NY, Mr. Ten Hagen served in the United States Army Air Corp. during World War II in the "Fightin 451st" Bomb Group as a B-24 Liberator Bomber pilot stationed at Castellucia Airfield in north-central Italy. A feature article entitled "Glimpse from the Past" in the 2003 Memorial Day edition of the Albany Herald wrote about Mr. Ten Hagen and Mr. Ray Barrett who both were a member of the 451st Bomb Group, and how they were reunited at Magnolia Manor nursing Home in Americus after nearly six decades after they shared a housing tent in Italy during World War II. On February 7, 1945 Mr. Ten Hagen and Mr. Barrett took off on a bombing run near Vienna, Austria, before they reached there destination the sky was filled with antiaircraft fire. Mr. Barrett's plane took a direct hit and Mr. Ten Hagen the co-pilot of another plane avoided the burning wreckage of his friend's plane. Mr. Barrett woke up two days later in a German field clinic badly wounded, and Mr. Ten Hagen feeling his comrade had died went back to the airbase to pack up the belongings of a man he assumed would no longer need them. He also served as a flight instructor at Turner Air Force Base and this is when he met his lovely wife, Ruth Jones Ten Hagen. Mr. Ten Hagen moved to Albany in 1952 where he owned and operated Parkway Pharmacy until 1972 and he retired from Big B Drugs in 1992. He was a member of First United Methodist Church, the Fellowship Sunday School class and served on various administrative boards for a number of years. He was a member of the Golden K Kiwanis Club, a charter member of Doublegate Country Club and a founding member of the MBH (My Brothers Keeper) Club. Mr. Ten Hagen was a graduate of Emory University and Southern School of Pharmacy known now as Mercer University. Survivors include his wife Ruth J. Ten Hagen of Americus, GA, son Donald C. Ten Hagen, Jr. and his wife Dinah of Yorktown, VA, two daughters, Barbara T. Horton and her husband Jim of Winston-Salem, NC, Deborah K. Sutton of Albany, sister-in-law, Grace Jones of Albany, four grandchildren, Stephen and Richard Ten Hagen, Mandy Horton, and Robert Thompson IV, two great-grandchildren, Gage Ten Hagen and Malarie Ten Hagen.Those desiring please make memorials to First United Methodist Church Music Ministry, P.O. Box 448, Albany, GA 31702-0448 or League of the Good Samaritan at Magnolia Manor, 2001 S. Lee St., Americus, GA 31709.

Donald C Ten Hagen Obituary

May 10, 1922 - February 23, 2006