John Harold Painter – Colonel, United States Army

Funeral services for Dr. John Harold Painter, Colonel, United States Army Medical Corps (retired) will be held at Arlington National Cemetery on 16 August 2002.  Visitation will be Saturday, July 13, 2002, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Jeffcoat-Trant Funeral Home of Opelika, Alabama. Dr. Painter, who died Wednesday, July 10, 2002 at his daughter’s home in Opelika, Alabama, was born October 5, 1920 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Dr. Painter was a retired Army Colonel. During World War II he commanded a resupply tugboat for U.S. forces in the Aleutian Islands, during the Korean Conflict served six months in Guam at the medical hospital (he was still an intern at Letterman Army Hospital when he went to Guam, served short duty in Somalia for humanitarian medical relief in 1961 & 1962, retired from military service in 1970 at First Army Headquarters, Fort Meade, Maryland.

He was preceded in death by his first wife, Frances Marjory Painter and two children, Gerry Painter and Loretta Painter, and his second wife, Lorraine Nichols Painter. He is survived by seven children, Mary Frances Painter, Mavis Painter, Michele Painter and husband Kenneth Hendricks of Seattle, Washington, Dr. Corinne A. Painter of Opelika, Alabama, Elizabeth Shumate and husband Thomas Shumate (First sergeant, United States Army, retired) of Fallston, Maryland, Major Lorraine Fleenor (United States Army, retired) and husband Master Sergeant Sean Fleenor of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and John H. Painter, Jr. and wife Lisa of Crofton, Maryland; two sisters, Nell (Sikorra) and Ruth Wingerter (Ruth died April 2003) of Seattle, Washington; and seven grandchildren.

While serving in the Army Medical Corps, Dr. Painter received the following awards: The Legion of Merit, Army Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster  and the National Defense Service Medal with oak leaf cluster.

His assignments included tours in in order: California, Guam, Washington State, India, Washington DC, back to Washington State, Kansas, England, Germany, Texas and Maryland.

Following his military retirement, he was the Medical Director for the United Mine Workers in Knoxville, Tennessee prior to moving to Crofton, Maryland, to become Medical Director for the Montgomery County Health Department in Silver Spring Maryland, a position he held until his retirement from medicine.

The family respectfully declines the gift of flowers and suggests that memorial donations be directed to local HOSPICE organizations.

Just as additional information, Daddy’s brother Ensign Francis Edward Painter is KIA/MIA, killed on a flying mission over the Sea of Japan 6 May 1953.  His oldest daughter (believe she was a Captain by then) was one of many nurses in Japan, treating the wounded coming out of Viet Nam and later, at the V.A. hospitals stateside.  Major Lorraine Painter is a veteran of Desert Storm.

His father served in France during World War I and his grandfather fought in the Battle of Springfield (in the Missouri Home Guard) during the Civil War.  His great-great-grandfather (his paternal grandmother’s ancestry) served during the American Revolution.

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