James Bryant Hemenway – Colonel, United States Army

Government Official

From a contemporary press report:

Colonel (James) Bryant Hemenway, Colonel, United States Army (retired) of Springfield, Virginia, died April 25, 2003 at Inova Fairfax Hospital. He was 65.

Colonel Hemenway was born in Los Angeles, California, on May 20, 1937. He attended the College of St. Bonaventure’s located in Middletown, NY in 1954-55 and Catholic Seminary in 1955-56. He enlisted in the Army Security, United States Army in 1957, attending the Army Language School to study Korean. He graduated in 1958 and spent the next two years in the Republic of Korea.

Colonel Hemenway left active duty in 1962, but remained in the Army Reserve (USAR) and in 1963 was commissioned a Second Lieutenant. At the same time, he pursued a civilian career with Boeing in Seattle, Washington, and with the Peoples National Bank of Washington State in a variety of management positions.

In 1973, Colonel Hemenway and his family relocated to Sierra Vista, Arizona, where he attended a year long school on Fort Huachuca. He then worked for the next seven years in drug enforcement and homicide, as well as major felony investigative and supervisory positions within local and state law enforcement. In 1980 he was promoted to Major and placed on active duty in the Active Guard Reserve (AGR) Program. He served in a number of leadership roles within Active and Reserve component organizations, retiring as a Colonel in May of 1994.

Colonel Hemenway’s last active duty position was Director of the combined Headquarters, Department of the Army, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence and Intelligence and Security Command’s Reserve Affairs Directorate, culminating in his award of the Legion of Merit, 1st Oak Leaf Cluster.

On retiring from active duty, Colonel Hemenway was employed by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), Reserve Forces policy Board through July of 1994. He then joined the Office of Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Department of the Army, where he exercised various responsibilities for plans, modernization and Integrated Theater Intelligence Architectures.

In December of 1995, he was selected for promotion into the Office of the OSD Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence (ASD C31), and served as the Assistant Director, Intelligence Policy, Office of the DASD (Intelligence). In 1999 he was awarded the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Corps Association’s prestigious Knowlton Award, and the Director of Central Intelligence’s National Intelligence Medal of Achievement. In March of 2002, Colonel Hemenway was hand-selected to serve in the Operations and Intelligence Support (O&IS) Directorate within the Office of DASD (Intelligence).

He was active in several area Catholic Church communities. He was a lector and involved in the RCIA program at the Church of the Nativity in Burke, VA. He taught CCD and especially enjoyed teaching the high school Confirmation classes for the Catholic Community on Fort Belvoir. He was a lector and Eucharistic Minister at the daily noon Mass in the Pentagon.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Police Administration from the University of Missouri, St. Louis, and completed extensive work towards his advanced degree and his private pilot’s license.

He is survived by his wife, Kathleen; his six children, James, Mary Whiting, Lisa Shaughnessy, William, Todd and John and grandchildren, Erin Pille, Allie Pille, Megan Hemenway, Lisa Straws, James Straws, Kevin Shaughnessy, Benjamin Whiting, Micah Hemenway, Michael Hemenway, Taylor Hemenway and James Hemenway II. He was preceded in death by his beloved mother, Myrtle Jolly Hemenway and his father, Arthur Merritt Hemenway. Funeral services were held on Monday, May 19, 2003 at the Church of the Nativity followed by interment with Full Military Honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

HEMENWAY, JAMES BRYANT
COL   US ARMY

• VIETNAM, PERSIAN GULF
• DATE OF BIRTH: 05/20/1937
• DATE OF DEATH: 04/25/2003
• BURIED AT: SECTION 66  SITE 4456
• ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard