John Keedy - W7AJN
Born (12/38) and lived in South-Western Pennsylvania until Dad was recalled to active duty for the Korean War with the 28th Division, US Army. He was stationed in Ulm, Germany and in 1952, my mother, sister, and I to join him. That was quite an adventure for small town folks to embark upon. My sister and I traveled to Munich every week to attend high school, lived in German homes converted to dormitories and grew up quickly. In December 1955 we returned to SW PA where we finished high school.
On June 26,1957 I enlisted in the US Air Force, did Basic at Lackland then went to Keesler for Air Traffic Control Radar Maintenance School. (303x1) After graduation I was assigned to Suffolk County Air Force Base on Long Island, New York, an ADC base where we had F-102s. That’s where I passed my 5 level and had some happy times. That’s also where I started my college education with College Algebra.
I received an assignment to Tachikawa Air Base, Japan, arriving in September 1959. That was a depot maintenance facility for all ground electronics equipment under AMFPA (Air Material Forces Pacific Area). I learned so very much about electronics and repair of ATC Radar and other equipment. I extended my enlistment and got my third stripe there. Kept taking classes with Univ of Maryland.
That’s’ where two Lutherans met at Tokyo Baptist Church and became enthralled with each other. She was a Stewardess with Air France and a professional violinist. Her father was Vice-President of Mitsui Mining. We courted and were married on May 26th, 1962 (I married up!) This year (2022) we are celebrating our 60th Wedding Anniversary! Susan has played with a number of orchestras in the Phoenix area: Chandler Symphony, Scottsdale Symphony, and West Valley Symphony. She has toured with orchestras in Vienna, Austria, and in China, where the orchestra played twelve concerts in fourteen days in different cities. Susan has participated in Music at Angle Fire, a summer music camp to students from Curtis Institute, and a Chamber Music Summer program at San Diego University. Susan has slowed down with the orchestra work and is concentrating on teaching. She currently has fourteen private students.
From Tachikawa, I went to McGuire AFB to work on a fixed ground search radar system CPN-18 and the FPN-16 final approach radar. We soon received the ASR-5 and I returned to Keesler to learn. My Dad, LT Col William Keedy, US Army swore me in on my second enlistment in mid-1965. Soon thereafter I received orders to SEA and left my family standing on the tarmac on Christmas day 1965. At Takhli Air Base, Thailand, we had a CPN-4 radar system. It was ultimately replaced with an MPN-11. I didn’t know him at the time, but Col. Boyd Van Horn (SK) was stationed at Takhli during this period as well. No doubt we controlled him on landings at Takhli.
After Takhli I returned to McGuire for a year, then took an assignment to Naha AB Okinawa to work on a CPN-4 there. We were a detachment out of Kadena. The Group Commander came for a visit about two months after arriving at Naha and asked me what equipment I had worked on. Upon discovering I had schooling and experience on the ASR-5, he asked me if I would like to transfer to Kadena where their trained tech had just left. I indicated I was happy at Naha but a week later I received orders for a PCA without PCS to Kadena. I spent nearly 5 years at Kadena. Went back to Keesler to learn the Bright 2 display system while there. Also did a lot of college work while there and completed all the requirements for my major in Industrial Teaching. Just needed to finish electives.
From Kadena I went to Luke AFB, Glendale, AZ where we had an ASR-5 which was upgraded to the ASR-7. I was the NCOIC of Radar Maintenance there. Went to NCO Academy while there. After receiving E6 went to Senior NCO Academy and Quality Control School.
Got a call from one of the guys from NCO Academy who was at Randolph AFB asking me if I wanted to go to Yokota AB, Japan as Radar Maintenance NCOIC of the Rapcon. I took the assignment and spent my first year motivating troops and getting the equipment working well and looking outstanding. Lots of scrubbing and painting along with overhauling the equipment. Got a General endorsement on my APR which helped me get MSGT soon after.
The next year my Chief of Maintenance called me into his office and told me I had been recommended to help organize the Special Maintenance Team, Pacific. We would have senior technicians from every ground electronic career field to ensure that ground electronics equipment in the Pacific theater was fully operational. We worked directly for the DM of Pac Comm Area in Hawaii. Our charter was that if a piece of equipment was down for 24 hours, we were on the phone. If it was down for 48 hours, we were on a plane and we didn’t leave until the reason for the outage was corrected. That was a great job that took me to nearly every installation in the Pacific theater, even Pago Pago, American Samoa. The downside was that I was gone 3 out of 4 weeks on average. Not good for a family with teenagers.
I had a line number for SMSGT (E-8) but turned it down for a terminal assignment to Luke where I retired Sept 30, 1979. During the last years in the Air Force, I completed the bachelor’s degree and graduated through University of Maryland with two majors: Industrial Vocational Teaching and Psychology.
I went to work in the printed circuit industry right after the Air Force. Was on staff building a 750,000 Sq Ft PBC manufacturing plant. I was Maintenance Superintendent in charge of monitoring equipment manufacture at various places around the US, maintenance standardization, spare parts standardization, transportation, and eventual installation of the equipment in the plant. Great job, but again lots of travel. Digital Equipment Corporation bought our PCB plant, and I worked for DEC for 7 years. During that time, I worked on master’s degrees with my GI Bill. Completed requirements for 2 degrees, MS in Computer Information Science and MBA. Left DEC and started teaching at Phoenix Institute of Technology, then moved to Glendale Community College as Adjunct Facility. I was also doing service and repair of robotic systems at Intel. After doing those jobs for several years, I answered an ad for IBM computer systems service with a company in Texas. I was one of the local service reps. Did that for 14 years before getting fed up with corporate and retired.
I have always been interested in photography since I was in Germany as a teenager and had a chance to process and print film at the photo hobby shop on Base. That got me started and I have been taking pictures since then. The Stars and Stripes page is from Yokota Air Base, Japan 1979 when I won first place in the Stars and Stripes, Pacific photography contest in three out of four categories: landscape, portrait, and patterns. You can also see some of my pictures above the radios. My business has been mostly teaching photography and taking individuals and small groups to interesting places in the Southwest. We’ve been to Death Valley (several times), Monument Valley, Petrified Forest/Painted Desert, Grand Canyon, Jerome, Old Tucson, and a lot of other places. I keep traveling and making images on my own as well. I also teach digital photo classes at a local community center. Love to interface with the young people that enroll in my classes. Helps keep my mind sharp too. Susan and I also do a lot of personal travel and, of course, I take advantage of those opportunities to do some photography.
Got my Tech License in 1966 but stayed a Tech until 2016 when I passed both the General and Extra exams. Joined West Valley ARC and got more experience. Was Monday morning Net Control for some years then gave that up to pursue HF more enthusiastically, joining the Air Forces Flyers Club as member number 586. I find a lot of pleasure checking in on the nets with such a group of wonderful fellow Hams and Flyers. It’s like a Golden Crown on a long life.
73 - John Keedy - W7AJN, AFFC #586