US Army General. He was born John Joseph Hennessey in Chicago, Illinois. After finishing high school, he attended Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, Winona, Minnesota, for three years before he was selected to attend the US Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1940. He graduated in 1944 with a commission as a second lieutenant in the infantry and saw action in the European Theater during World War II as a platoon leader and company commander. He served in the Korean War as a member of the staff of 1st Corps. By the Vietnam War, he was a battalion commander in the 11th Air Assault Division. In 1965, when the 11th Air Assault Division was converted to the 1st Cavalry Division (Air Mobile), he accompanied them to Vietnam as the 1st Brigade's executive officer, and was promoted to the rank of colonel when he became the brigade commander. He received a promotion to the rank of brigadier general and served as the assistant division commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, then became assistant division commander of the 101st Airborne Division, deploying with them to Vietnam as a major general in May 1970 for his second tour there. He returned to the United States in February 1971 and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and became the commandant of the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, from July 1971 to August 1973. On November 8, 1974, he was then promoted to the rank of general and assumed command of the US Readiness Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, in December 1974, and retired from that position in 1979 with 35 years of continued active military service in the US Army. Among his military decorations and awards include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with one oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star with Combat V and three oak leaf clusters, and the Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters, the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Army Aviators Badge, and the Master Parachutist's Badge. After his military retirement, he served on the Board of Trustees of the University of Tampa, Tampa, Florida, and was the executive director of the Tampa Bay Area Research and Development Authority under the University of South Florida. He died from a stroke in Tampa, Florida.