David S. Karukin ’48

David S. Karukin ’48, U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant colonel (retired), died at Bangkok Hospital in Thailand on June 18 following a short illness. A native of Holyoke, Massachusetts, David enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1943 and participated in the invasion of Saigon in 1944. After completion of his wartime service he came to Dartmouth under the G.I. Bill. He was active in the Spanish Club and Foley House and graduated in 1948. He then applied for and received a regular commission and served with the 5th Marine Corps during the Korean War from 1952 to 1953. He remained in the service, where he taught Spanish at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland; completed junior staff school in Quantico, Virginia; served as executive officer of the 3rd Battalion 7th Marine regiment; and was assistant chief of staff of the 1st Marine Division and then the 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade at Guantanamo Bay during the Cuban missile crisis. In 1963 he attended a Thai language course in Monterey, California, and was then attached to the Joint Military Advisory Group in Thailand. David returned briefly to Washington, D.C., for headquarter assignments before retiring in 1969. In 1970 he and his wife, Duangduen, established a permanent residence in Bangkok, where he worked and raised a family. He served on the general committee of the Royal Bangkok Sports Club for more than 20 years and was president of the Dartmouth Club of Thailand at his death. David is survived by Duangduen and their son Dimitri.