John A. Keating – Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army

From a contemporary press report:

John A. Keating, 85, a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, died of heart disease and renal failure November 17, 2003, at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital, Virginia.

Colonel Keating, a native of Jamaica, New York, enlisted in the Army in 1942 and commanded a tank platoon during the Battle of the Bulge and the capture of the Frankfurt, Germany, airport during World War II.

After the war, he transferred to army intelligence and served on General Douglas MacArthur’s staff in Japan. While in the military, he earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland. After his retirement from the military in 1962, he worked in the Army Security Agency and Army Materiel Command.

Colonel Keating, a resident of Franconia, Virginia. since 1961, was youth commissioner for Franconia and coach of many baseball, football and softball teams. For 20 years, he was a member of the Fairfax Human Rights Commission, and he was a founding member of Friends of Crossroads, a drug rehabilitation center. He was a founding parishioner of St. Lawrence the Martyr Catholic Church in Franconia and a charter member of the Father Ryder chapter of Knights of Columbus. He supported the work of his wife, Gladys B. Keating, who was a member of the Virginia General Assembly for 20 years.

Survivors include his wife of 53 years; three sons, John A. Keating Jr. of Kaiserslautern, Germany, Lawrence Keating of Charlotte and Michael Keating of Centreville; two daughters, Maggie Jones of Spotsylvania and Eileen Carnaggio of Clarksville; 16 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

KEATING, JOHN A. “JACK”, LTC USA (Ret.)

Age 85, on Monday, November 17, 2003, of Franconia, VA. Loving husband of Gladys Keating; proud father of John A. Jr. (Elizabeth), Lawrence P. (Holly), Michael L. (Kathleen), Margaret (David Jones) and Eileen (Sam Carnaggio). He is also survived by 16 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A Funeral Mass will be held on Tuesday, November 25, at 11 a.m. at St. Lawrence the Martyr Catholic Church, 6222 Franconia Rd., Alexandria. Interment with full military honors will be held on Thursday, January 8, 11 a.m. at Arlington National Cemetery.

KEATING, JOHN
LTC   US ARMY
VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 07/03/1943 – 08/01/1962
DATE OF BIRTH: 02/14/1918
DATE OF DEATH: 11/17/2003
DATE OF INTERMENT: 01/08/2004
BURIED AT: SECTION 68  SITE 4898
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