Posted by robert dey on July 13, 2026:

John was my oldest friend in our class. We were Army brats in Germany together in 1950 and were High school classmates in Heidelberg, where we attended German class together and played on the school football team. John played the center position on the team and exhibited the toughness and reliability that characterized him throughout his life. By sheer happenstance he was accepted to West Point as I was also in Class of 1958. We both branched Army Engineers so attended the Engineer school for basic together. After tours in Europe, again by happenstance we attended Stanford University in the engineering Master's program in the early sixties. I had been to Army Aviation flight school and as a pilot I flew "proficiency" time on weekends as required when assigned to non-aviation duties. John was an avid Blackjack player so I made several flights from San Francisco to Reno so he could practice his hobby, which he did successfully. On one trip he was snoozing in the back seat of our single engine aircraft and after years of a devilish relationship I could not resist putting the aircraft in an "over-the-top" spin. It was an unforgettable awakening that we both laqughed about for many years. John was a "tunnel rat" in Vietnam, entering enemy tunnels and destroying them with demolitions, one of the toughest and most dangerous jobs for a combat engineer. Again, his toughness and determination were evident. After we both retired it happens that fly fishing was our choice of sport, and for many years thereafter we fished the western rivers in Colorado, Montana, and Idaho, joined by classmates Bob Moscatelli and Ron Hudson. John was a great soldier, and a dear friend. He lives in my heart.

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