Donald Liggitt was from York, Pennsylvania, where he graduated from William Penn High School.  He entered the College in 1941 but enlisted in the Army Air Corps in the autumn of 1942.

He attended officer candidate school in Florida and after service in North Carolina, he served in Europe during the march on Berlin.  He returned to the United States in October 1945 and was stationed at Randolph Field in Texas as an assistant judge advocate.

On May 7, 1946, Captain Liggitt was among five men killed in the crash of a bomber in Louisiana.