David J. Shortt

David Shortt served on the USS CATAMOUNT (LSD-17) as the Disbursing Officer during the Vietnam War era.  He was onboard off the coast of Vietnam during the Vietnamese Tet Counter Offensive in 1969.

David  was born January 29, 1942 in Pontiac, Michigan.  He obtained his electrical engineering degree from General Motors Institute. Upon graduation, he joined the Navy and went directly to Officer’s Training School. He served as a First Lieutenant aboard the USS Cantamount (LSD-17) as the ship’s Finance Manager. 

He was aboard the Cantamount during the war in Vietnam and received the Vietnam Service Medal with 2 Bronze Stars and the National Defense medal for his service.

Upon receiving an honorable discharge in May of 1972, he opened a machine shop in Flint, Michigan.  And, he also flew hot air balloons for an eight year period taking his customers for spectacular rides.  He also enjoyed playing golf and loved to sail.

He married Jayne in August of 1981 in Clarkston, Michigan.  They met on a group ski trip to Aspen in 1975.  David was father to three children; Paul, Charlie & Suzy.  And he was grandfather to five grandchildren; Zachary, Charlie, Nathan, Saxon & Zoey.

In 1984, David & Jayne moved to San Diego where David had a professional machine shop.  He focused on building precision parts.  He was most known for building a precision part for the AC Spark Plug division of General Motors.  The part was used in variants of the four-engine turboprop Lockheed Martin C-130 military transport aircraft.  Over 2500 C-130’s were built between 1956 and 2015 with numerous variants. When AC Spark Plug had difficulty building the part to the very strict military specifications, David bid on the contract as a subcontractor and used his engineering intuition to build it himself at his home garage machine shop and was awarded the contract by General Motors.

David Shortt was born January 29, 1942 in Pontiac, Michigan.  He obtained his electrical engineering degree from General Motors Institute. Upon graduation, he joined the Navy and went directly to Officer’s Training School. He served as a First Lieutenant aboard the USS Cantamount (LSD-17) as the ship’s Finance Manager. 

He was aboard the Cantamount during the war in Vietnam and received the Vietnam Service Medal with 2 Bronze Stars and the National Defense medal for his service.

Upon receiving an honorable discharge in May of 1972, he opened a machine shop in Flint, Michigan.  And, he also flew hot air balloons for an eight year period taking his customers for spectacular rides.  He also enjoyed playing golf and loved to sail.

He married Jayne in August of 1981 in Clarkston, Michigan.  They met on a group ski trip to Aspen in 1975.  David was father to three children; Paul, Charlie & Suzy.  And he was grandfather to five grandchildren; Zachary, Charlie, Nathan, Saxon & Zoey.

In 1984, David & Jayne moved to San Diego where David had a professional machine shop.  He focused on building precision parts.  He was most known for building a precision part for the AC Spark Plug division of General Motors.  The part was used in variants of the four-engine turboprop Lockheed Martin C-130 military transport aircraft.  Over 2500 C-130’s were built between 1956 and 2015 with numerous variants. When AC Spark Plug had difficulty building the part to the very strict military specifications, David bid on the contract as a subcontractor and used his engineering intuition to build it himself at his home garage machine shop and was awarded the contract by General Motors.

When a much larger company (Woodward Governor) took the contract from David to build this critical fuel pump, he took them to court and won the lawsuit to get the contract awarded back to his company.  It’s hard to imagine that a small, single person garage machine shop could do what a large manufacturing company could not.  But this was one significant example of David’s ingenuity, his technical ability and his perseverance.  Something he used in many of his other endeavors.

In 1994, David & Jayne moved to a home in the nearby La Jolla community of La Jolla Summit.  It’s located just below the antennas within walking distance from the Mount Soledad Memorial.