John Joseph Kelleher

SGT in 406th Engineer Combat Co

Military occupational specialty: 59 (foreman, construction)

ASN#32862358

Born 1919 in NY, Died 2012

County of residence at enlistment: New York County, NY

Other residence(s): New York, NY; Green Valley, AZ; Wheat Ridge, CO

United States Army, European Theatre of Operations

Occupation before the war: firemen, fire department

Source: Special Order 19, 23d HQ, Camp Forrest, 7 April 1944; Bernie Mason Company A, B Roster; militaryyearbookproject.org/references/old-mos-codes/wwii-era/army...; photo courtesy Patricia Kelleher Grey

John Kelleher was born on January 1, 1919, in New York, NY, the sixth of eight children. Both of his parents had been born in Ireland; his father worked in a butcher shop.

He attended Textile High School in the Bronx, but left in his sophomore year to help support his family. He worked for Daniel Reeves, a large grocery store chain in New York City, and also spent several years with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), serving mostly in the West—in Idaho, Nevada, and California.

He registered for the draft on October 16, 1940 and enlisted on March 13, 1943; his occupation at that time was as a fireman. He had already married Elizabeth Kerrigan, in January, 1942.

A family in Luxembourg invited John to Christmas Eve mass and dinner in 1944; he posed with two little girls in front of the church.

Like many other men from New York and New Jersey who enlisted in March 1943, he found himself on a train headed to Camp Gordon, Georgia. There he would join the newly activated 293rd Engineer Combat Battalion, and be assigned to Company A. That spring and summer the unit trained in Georgia and Tennessee, and that fall boarded a train for Camp Pilot Knob, aka the Desert Training Center, five miles from Yuma, Arizona (just inside the California border). In mid-January 1944, the commander of the 293rd received an order to detach his best company for a secret mission. He selected Company A, and by January 30, 1944 the men were back in Tennessee. On April 7, 1944, Company A of the 293rd was officially reassigned and renamed as the 406th Engineer Combat Company, and the unit boarded a ship to England in early May. John's daughter reports that her father was proud of the fact that he didn't get sick on the crossing—he said he ate to his heart's content! John served with the unit in Europe during the war, and was discharged from the Army on September 18, 1945.

After the war, John joined the New York City Police Department. He started as a patrolman and was eventually promoted to the rank of detective. He and Elizabeth became the parents of two daughters: Maureen (who had been born just before her father went overseas) and Patricia.

Patricia tells an interesting story of coincidence (or fate!) Her mother-in-law, Alice Grey, worked as an assistant designer for Bill Blass in New York City. Bill was, of course, a member of the Ghost Army's 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion. Bill attended Patricia's wedding in 1970 (and put some finishing touches on her wedding dress!) but neither he nor John knew of their mutual Ghost Army connection.

After John retired from a long and illustrious career as a detective in the Bronx and Manhattan, he and Elizabeth moved to Colorado in 1973, and then to Green Valley, AZ where they lived for 27 years. When Elizabeth died in 2002, John moved back to Colorado to be with his daughters and their families.

John died on January 20, 2012 in Wheat Ridge, CO, and is buried at Green Valley Cemetery in Sahuarita, AZ.