Postwar Career
From G.I. Bill to Businessman
Text
"So when they dropped the bomb, ending the war, we were of course ecstatic. It was a reprieve. So we did all this, and we then returned to Pearl, back to San Diego where, a few months later, I got discharged and went home and started college."
Editor’s Note: After being discharged honorably from the Navy in 1946, McDonnell completed his high school education and enrolled in Canisius College of Buffalo, New York, on the G.I. Bill. He completed course work in social studies, becoming the first member of his family to graduate from college. He then launched what would become a successful business career, first as a marketing manager for Heinicke Instruments and later for Fisher Scientific. Ultimately he would go into business for himself selling replaceable parts for forklift trucks before retiring to his home in the Atlanta area.
