He was born July 20, 1948, in Graham, Texas, the son of Major Leo G. Bradford, USAF, who was in Germany flying the Berlin Airlift, and Elizabeth Arline Younger Bradford, who was carrying twin sons and returned home so that, according to his father, “My sons will be born in Texas.”
When he was eight years old, his parents were sent to Japan, where he and his brother and two sisters were raised.
Don-Michael graduated from Gakko Hojiin-The American School in Japan in 1966, then spent the next month’s travelling around the world visiting Southern Baptist Missionary churches, as he was a Missionary Kid (MK). He graduated from Texas State University in 1970, then enlisted in the US Air Force Reserves. In 1972 he received a commission as a Second Lieutenant and entered into the Air Force’s elite Civil Engineering career field, especially RED HORSE units. When he was promoted to Colonel, he was sent to command the 18th Civil Engineering Group at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan, the largest civil engineering unit in the US Air Force. He was the first commander to speak in Japanese to his more than 3,000 native workforce members.
In 1999 he was medically retired from the Air Force and following his recovery at Tripler Medical Center in Hawaii, he moved to Seattle, Washington, where he joined the American Legion Post #1, and soon became its leader, rebuilding, repairing, and expanding the Nation’s oldest American Legion Post.
In 2019, he and his wife, Captain Shawna So, US Army, bought a ranch in New Boston, and soon joined with his twin brother Dr. David Bradford, and sister, Dana Bradford in creating a home in the Northeast Texas timberland of New Boston.
While in New Boston, Colonel Bradford stood up a defense-oriented organization, Armed Forces Future Initiatives LLC (AFFI), in order to bring program management to the complex issues of corrosion control, remediation, and application for sustain and maintaining the US Army’s combat vehicles. Colonel Bradford’s extensive background in civil engineering, program management, and defense issues was deep and creative. The Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) had awarded him a PhD in those areas.
Colonel Bradford was a graduate of the Armed Forces Staff College, the Air War College, and as a National Defense Fellow, he taught in Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Conversant in multiple languages, service in several nations as an advisor on military base construction, he became a convert to the Orthodox Church and served in several capacities wherever there was a Church. He was a member of the Texarkana Orthodox Church until his death.
Colonel Bradford is survived by his wife, Shawna So, his identical twin brother Dr. David Bradford, and sister, Dana Bradford. His older sister, Delinda, passed away in 2017 in Virginia. Don-Michael had three children, Michael-David (Roanoke, Texas), Michelle-Denise (Seattle) and Matthew-Denise (Denver).
