John Sebree Farrington

West Point, 1955

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by William W. Wright on March 10, 2011:

I met Jack Farrington when my boss at Teledyne Brown Engineering asked "Do you REALLY want to design/work in hardware" He ushered me into a office panelled in walnut and a large desk where I met Mr. Farrington. He asked me just three questions. Do you know anything about electrical circuits? (I was teaching the circuits course across the street at the U. of Alabama.) Do you know anything about Ammunition Ordnance? (I was the ammunition "expert" for G4, Ammo, Third U. S. Army) and that also answered the third question (prior service). We worked for months to build a state of the art 105mm test range to upgrade The Turkish range and their new capability to test anti-tank rounds. Jack found common ground with the base commander when he found they both could speak German and were of equivalent rank. He got things done! We did 12 engineering-months of work in one month working with the Turks, reserving weekends for The Med or Ankara where he entertained the supper club we were at with Jazz piano while I "piddled" on a string bass. He could play ANY song! He amazed the NCOs and Officers at the Gazeno where we stayed in Kara Pinar by learning Turkish so well that he was reading their newspaper by the third week! Outside of my father (CO, 3/132nd on Guadalcanal)and his youngest brother (also Guadalcanal),he was the most amazing individual I ever met.

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