John DuVal Stevens – Brigadier General, United States Army

From a contemporary press report:

John Duval Stevens, 87, an Army brigadier general who retired in 1964 as commander of a brigade at Fort Meade responsible for Army air defense of the region between Baltimore and Norfolk, died July 16, 1998 at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital. He had a heart ailment.

General Stevens, who lived at The Fairfax at Fort Belvoir, served in the Army for more than 30 years, starting with the Coast Artillery Corps. He was deputy commanding general of the Army Air Defense Center at Fort Bliss, Tex., during the start of the Nike Hercules and Hawk missile programs.

General Stevens was born in Winchester, Virginia, and raised in North Carolina. He was a 1934 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he taught history and government from 1940 to 1944.

He also attended The Citadel, received a master’s degree in public law from Columbia University and did graduate work in Far East relations at Yale University. He was a graduate of the Coast Artillery School, Command and General Staff College, Armed Forces Staff College and Army War College.

He served in Tokyo after World War II and was posted to Germany in the 1950s and Korea in 1960. After he retired, he was a consultant to Research Analysis Corp.

His honors included two Legions of Merit.

General Stevens was a member of the Association of the U.S. Army, Retired Officers Association, National Association of Uniformed Services, Military Order of the World Wars, Falls Church Episcopal Church and St. James Episcopal Church in Mount Vernon.

Survivors include his wife, Frances Cramer Stevens of Fort Belvoir; two daughters, Frances Stevens Sozio of Timonium, Md., and Leah Stevens Kean of Fort Belvoir; two grandsons; and two great-grandsons.

STEVENS, JOHN DuVAL, BG, USA (Ret.)

On July 16, 1998. Survivors include his wife, the former Frances C. Cramer; two daughters, Frances Stevens Sozio (Dory) of Timonium, MD and Leah Stevens Kean; two grandsons, David Stevens Sozio of Oakton, VA and Andrew Mark Sozio of Timonium, MD; two great grandsons, Jonathan David Sozio and Benjamin Parker Sozio. A service will be held on Thursday, August 6 at 1 p.m. in Ft. Myer Post Chapel. Interment to follow in Arlington National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to a charity of choice.

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