John Joseph Davis – Lieutenant General, United States Army

From A Contemporary News Report:

John J. Davis, 88, an Army Lieutenant General who retired from active duty in 1970 as an assistant director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, died August 22, 1997 at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital after a stroke. He lived in Fairfax, Virginia.

As ACDA assistant director, General Davis had been the agency’s chief military adviser on the SALT I and SALT II negotiations.

He held senior intelligence and security posts from the mid-1950s until retiring. In the 1950s, he was plans and policy chief of the National Security Agency and a foreign intelligence director in the office of the Army’s assistant chief of staff for intelligence.

In the 1960s, his posts included NSA assistant director and then the Army’s assistant chief of staff for intelligence. He joined the ACDA in 1966.

General Davis, who was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, was a 1931 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and later graduated from the Army War College.

A field artillery officer, he served during World War II in the famed U.S. Third Army in Europe that was commanded by General George S. Patton Jr. Postwar assignments included a tour as military attache in South Africa and the command of the 24th Infantry Division’s artillery in South Korea in 1956.

General Davis’s military decorations included the Legion of Merit, two Bronze Stars and two Air Medals.

Since 1970, he had lived in Arlington and then Fairfax. He had been a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers and National City Christian Church in Washington.

Survivors include his wife, Wilma, of Fairfax; two sons, Robert A., of Walnut Creek, Calif., and John Jr., of Millersville; a daughter, Lucile L. Schenkel of Cottage Grove, Ore.; six grandchildren; and a great-grandson.

General Davis was buried in Section 30 of Arlington National Cemetery.  His wife, Wilma Z. Davis (31 March 1912-10 December 2001) is buried with him.

DAVIS, JOHN JOSEPH
LTG   US ARMY
WORLD WAR II, KOREA, VIETNAM

• DATE OF BIRTH: 03/19/1909
• DATE OF DEATH: 08/22/1997
• BURIED AT: SECTION 30  SITE 564-A LH
  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