Donald Steven Runels was born 8 July 1904 at Santa Maria, California

Santa Maria, California

Santa Maria is a city in Santa Barbara County, on the Central Coast of California. The 2010 census population was 100,062, putting it ahead of Santa Barbara for the first time and making it the largest city in the county...

, enlisted in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 on 19 March 1926; was appointed machinist 14 September 1938; warranted machinist (to rank from 10 September 1938) on 25 November 1939; and commissioned ensign

Ensign (rank)

Ensign is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign flag, the rank itself acquired the name....

 on 23 June 1942. Ensign Runels was killed when his ship, Northampton

USS Northampton (CA-26)

USS Northampton was a heavy cruiser in service with the United States Navy. She was the lead ship of her class and commissioned in 1930...

 (CA-26) was torpedoed and sunk during the Battle of Tassafaronga

Battle of Tassafaronga

The Battle of Tassafaronga, sometimes referred to as the Fourth Battle of Savo Island or, in Japanese sources, as the , was a nighttime naval battle that took place November 30, 1942 between United States Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy warships during the Guadalcanal campaign...

 30 November 1942.

Namesake

In 1943, the destroyer escort

Destroyer escort

A destroyer escort is the classification for a smaller, lightly armed warship designed to be used to escort convoys of merchant marine ships, primarily of the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. It is employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also provides some protection...

 USS Runels

USS Runels (DE-793)

USS Runels was a Buckley-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy, named in honor of Ensign Donald S. Runels , who was killed when his ship, was torpedoed and sunk during the Battle of Tassafaronga on 30 November 1942.Runels was laid down on 7 June 1943 by the Consolidated Steel Corp.,...

 (DE-793) was named in honor of Ens. Runels, sponsored by his widow

Widow

A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...

, Mrs. D. S. Runels.