Donald E. Darby, of Chillicothe, Ohio, was elected Commander-in-Chief at the 124th National Encampment of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War in Nashua, New Hampshire on 6 August 2005. He is the 14th Ohioan to serve as Commander-in-Chief.

Donald Eugene Darby, the son of Air Force SMSgt. Eugene J. Blaser and Delores Darby, was born in Barberton Ohio. He was raised in Athens County, Ohio and graduated from Alexander High School in 1971. After graduation he joined the U.S. Navy where he served his country for 23 years rising to the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 4 (CWO4). While in the navy he served on the USS Enterprise, USS Nimitz, USS America, C-in-CUSNAVEUR (London, UK), SEAL Team FOUR and various other commands. He also managed to attend college while in the navy, graduating suma cum laude from St. Leo College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminology.

Following his retirement from the Navy in 1994, C-in-C Darby has been employed at the Ross County (Ohio) Court of Common Pleas Juvenile and Probate Court first, as a Juvenile Probation Officer and currently as the Mediator of the Court.

Brother Darby became a member of the SUVCW 30 July 1988 at Gov. Dennison Camp 125 in Athens, Ohio where he served as Camp Secretary/Treasurer. He later became a charter member of Sgt. Richard Enderlin Camp 73 in Chillicothe, Ohio where he served as Secretary/Treasurer, Junior and Senior Vice and Camp Commander.

At the Department level C-in-C Darby has held the positions of Patriotic Instructor, Graves Registration Officer (registering over 5,000 GAR gravesites), Junior and Senior Vice Commander and was elected Ohio Department Commander 2001. He also brought to fruition the "Last Soldier" Project in the Department of Ohio, which was later adopted as a National project.

Nationally, C-in-C Darby has served two terms as National Patriotic Instructor, a full three-year term as an elected member of the Council of Administration, Junior Vice Commander-in-Chief and Senior Vice Commander-in-Chief. In coordination with the National Webmaster, he brought the "Patriotic Recollections" and the "Teachers and Scholars" to the National Web page. At his suggestion, the current National Patriotic Instructor instituted the "Adopt-a-School" and "Adopt-a-Unit" program.

C-in-C Darby has also supported the SUVCW Charitable Foundation by transcribing on to CD's the GAR and SUV Blue Books, History of the Grand Army of the Republic by Robert Beath, Camp Fire Chats by Washington Davis. For the Sgt. Enderlin Camp he transcribed The Early History of the Ohio Department of the Grand Army of the Republic (1866 to 1880) by T. D. McGillicuddy.

C-in-C Darby's membership in the SUVCW is through his great uncle George Kidd, a private in the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry Company C.

August 2005