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ON 3 JUNE 1967, Lieutenant Colonel <em>Joseph M. Kiernan Jr., </em>was killed in a helicopter crash while on a combat reconnaissance flight near Bien Hoa, South Vietnam. This tragic incident came near the end of his tour as Commanding Officer of the 1st Engineer Battalion, an assignment to which he had aspired since his first tour with the 1st Engineers in 1949. The last taps were sounded in Arlington Cemetery on 9 June as the Commanding General of the 1st Infantry Division and other comrades-in-arms paid their respects.</p>
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Joe was born in New York City on 19 May 1927, into a Navy family, the son of the late Captain and Mrs. J. M. Kiernan, USN. He attended the St. Albans School in Washington and Phillips Academy Andover in Massachusetts prior to his entrance into the United States Military Academy in 1944.</p>
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“To hear Joe booming away in the ‘sinks' after taps on the next day’s lessons, to engage with him in his beloved ‘rat races,’ to enjoy his violent and many twisters-all will long give us many happy thoughts of the moments spent with this huge fun-loving flanker. Whenever anyone needed ‘poop’ on the next assignment, Joe was always ready to help out, however he could. Although he pushed the class to recitations by constantly running in at the last note of assembly, Joe expertly led it when the grades came in.</p>
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This description of Joe from the class yearbook is a warm tribute by his classmates to the cadet they all knew and admired. Few demonstrated his versatility, as he excelled in athletics, particularly boxing and golf, was appointed as a cadet officer in recognition of his leadership ability, and finally, as his crowning achievement, led the Class of 1948 to receive their diplomas on graduation day.</p>
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It was only fitting that the first engineer of the class receive the choicest of assignments, the 1st Engineer Battalion of the Big Red One. Thus began an association of mutal admiration that was to last eighteen years.</p>
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He married his devoted wife, the former Marianne Cushing, in Washington, D.C., on 28 January 1956. Their first tour together was in Rangoon, Burma, where Joe was an Assistant Army Attache. Following a year at the California Institute of Technology for a Masters Degree, he was assigned to the Missiles and Space Division of the Office of Chief of Research and Development. His expertise in the missile business was soon recognized in the military and scientific community and led in 1963 to a second Pentagon assignment as Deputy Chief of Missile Phenomenology in the Advanced Research Projects Agency. During this time he also found time to gain accreditation in the District of Columbia and the State of Vermont as a registered professional engineer.</p>
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Joe volunteered for Vietnam in 1966 so that he could return to the 1st Engineer Battalion as its Commanding Officer. His many decorations attest to the gallantry and professional competence with which he served: two Silver Stars, the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal with “V” two Army Commendation Medals with “V”, Joint Service Commendation Medal, seven Air Medals, two Cross of Gallantry with Gold Star (Vietnamese), and two Distinguished Service Medals (Vietnamese),</p>
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Joe Kiernan is survived by his wife Marianne, his two sons Joseph III and Thomas, and by a host of friends. He set an example that is admired by everyone.<br />
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