Vincent Patrick Healey – Rear Admiral, United States Navy

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From a contemporary press report:

Vincent Patrick Healey, 80, an Arlington resident and retired Navy rear admiral who was a combat veteran of World War II Pacific campaigns, died of pneumonia May 30 at Georgetown University Hospital, Washington., D.C.. He had cancer.

After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1940, he was assigned to the cruiser Astoria.

He was serving aboard the cruiser at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, when the base was attacked by Japanese forces, bringing the United States into World War II.

Admiral Healey served on the Astoria during the battles of Coral Sea and Midway and as a battery officer in the Battle of Savo Island, where the Astoria was sunk.

For that engagement, he received the Bronze Star with combat “V.” He later served aboard other ships during the fights for Luzon, Iwo Jima and Japan itself.

After the war, he studied at the Naval Postgraduate School and received a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Later Navy assignments included command of a cruiser-destroyer flotilla and work in anti-submarine warfare and electronic warfare systems. He retired from active duty in 1972.

In addition to the Bronze Star, Admiral Healey’s decorations had included the Legion of Merit.

After retiring from the Navy, he was a consultant to aerospace companies before joining the EDO Corp., an engineering concern, in 1974 as head of its Washington offices.

In the 1980s, he retired from full-time work but remained with EDO as a consultant.

In retirement, his avocations had included organizing groups of people for fund-raising and other projects. He helped organize Annapolis class reunions and was active in efforts to raise funds to preserve historic churches and church property.

Admiral Healey had served on the parish council of St. Dominic’s Catholic Church in Washington and had been a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Arlington.

He also had been a supporter of the Dominican House of Studies in Washington.

Over the years, he had chaired the National Security Industries Association, where he was active in committee work dealing with amphibious and anti-submarine warfare.

He also had been active in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and was a member of Sigma Xi, a national honorary scientific research society.

Admiral Healey, a native of New York, attended Fordham University before entering the Naval Academy in 1936.

His first wife, Helen Marie Clarke Healey, died in 1995.

Survivors include his wife, Joan Casey Saenz Healey of Arlington; five children from his first marriage, Dominic Mark Healey of Maywood, N.J., Mary Helen Healey of Arlington, Peter Joseph Healey of San Diego and John Stephen Healey and Jane Marie Healey Zamm, both of New York; and five grandchildren.

EALEY, VINCENT PATRICK, RADM, USN (Ret.)

On Saturday, May 30, 1998, of Arlington, Virginia, beloved husband of Joan Alice Healey; loving father of Dominic Healey, John Healey, Mary Healey, Jane Healey-Zamm and Peter Healey; step-father of Julian Saenz and Diana Saenz; grandfather of Simone, Dominie, Patrick, Anna and Helen Healey. Mass of Christian Burialwill be offered on Friday at 9:30 a.m. at St. Dominic’s Catholic Church, 630 E St., SW, Washington, DC. Interment to follow with Full Military Honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

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