James Addison Keeley

West Point, 1951

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Jose A. "Andy" Chacon on May 26, 2009:

James Addison Keeley Born May 13, 1928 -- Died May 24, 2009 James Addison "Poi" Keeley was born in Connecticut on 13 May 1928 but was appointed to West Point from the then Territory of Hawaii's single Congressional District. His West Point classmates recall: "Poi was always congenial and jovial, light-hearted and gay, but a raging lion when involved in a discussion about state-hood for Hawaii, and stood by Hawaii like a native son. It was never too difficult to interrupt Jim while studying, composing one of his songs, or writing one of the 6.0 themes which made him the envy of his classmates, to engage him in an argument about the Islands." During his cadet days Jim was with the Dialectic Society and the Chapel Choir all four years, with the German Club cow and first class years, and was a Cadet Lieutenant his first class year. Upon graduation, Jim went in the Artillery and after completing jump school at Ft. Benning and the Basic Artillery Course at Fort Sill, Oklahoma reported to his first duty station with the 675th Airborne Field Artillery, part of the 11th Airborne Division. His next assignment took him to Japan and then to the Korean War as a forward observer with the 674th Airborne Field Artillery supporting the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team. In 1957 Jim rejoined the 11th Airborne Division, which moved en masse from Ft. Campbell to Germany. There, he was assigned as Battery Commander with the 377th Airborne Field Artillery. Due to the unavailability of Little John rockets, Captain Keeley's battery was equipped with Honest Johns, but in the number prescribed by the TO&E (4), making his battery larger than Honest John battalions commanded by Lt. Cols. After returning to stateside, he attended the Advanced Artillery Course, then matriculated at The University of Arizona where he earned a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1962. He was then assigned to Office, Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Department of the Army where he served until 1964 when he resigned his major's commission. Jim's civilian career began in Miami, Florida where he worked in the maintenance department of the Miami Herald. After promotions to Operations Research and Assistant Production Manager, he became part of the Knight-Ridder corporate staff as director of Construction and Mechanical systems. His work involved modernization of newspaper production methods throughout the group and construction of new plant and plant additions for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Detroit Free Press, the Tallahassee Democrat, The Milledgeville Recorder and The Columbus (Georgia) Enquirer. In 1982, Keeley became the Vice-President/Operations for The Dallas Morning News where he was responsible for the design, construction and equipping of a state-of-the-art newspaper production facility in Plano, Texas. Jim's last job was as Assistant to the President of Tokyo Kikai Seisakusho, in the U.S. offices of that Japanese newspaper press manufacturer. Jim and his wife Angie, made their home in Carrollton, TX.

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