Update as of April 14:

VZ Email support took about 4 days but finally did activate the SIM card (GSM) on my D2G.  It is now operating correctly in the Philippines.  The Philippines is a mix of CDMA and GSM networks.  The next test is Hong Kong (also GSM).

Lesson is to verify directly that the phone is activated internationally and GSM (the SIM card) is activated.  In my case VZ only activated CDMA internationally (even though the previous phone had CDMA and GSM activated).

I will mark this issue resolved if the phone operates successfully in Hong Kong this week....  I am still not confident the activation is complete.