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MEMORIAL ARTICLE
Published Assembly May '94
John Alfred Riedel, Jr. No.15692 Class of 1946
Died 14 July 1991 in Uniontown, Ohio, aged 66 years. Interment:
Woodlawn Cemetery, Maxville, Indiana. |
John Alfred (Al) Riedel, Jr. was born 27 January
1925 in Boulder, Montana. Throughout his formative years, Al's
driving ambition was to become a pilot. It was, therefore, the
culmination of many years of anticipation when he gained his
appointment to West Point.
Cadet life was routine for Al. Academics caused
him no problems, and he tried to stay out of the way of the Tactical
Department. He kept his attention focused upon his goal. He became
an Air Cadet yearling year when offered the chance and graduated
as a second lieutenant pilot in the Army Air Corps.
His assignment after graduation was to Arizona
for transition training into fighter aircraft. Upon completion
of this training, Al returned to West Point to marry Mary Patricia
(Pat) Brown on 23 October 1946. His first operational assignment
was to a bomb group at Biggs Air Force Base, El Paso, Texas,
where their daughter, Patricia Alyce, was born. From there, he
joined the Armed Forces Special Weapons Program and became a
member of the first Air Force Special Weapons Command Assembly
Team (Atomic) as an electrical supervisor. Their son, John A.
Riedel III, was born at Sandia Base Hospital in Albuquerque.
Al left the Air Force in 1951 to seek his fortune in civilian
life.
His first civilian position was with Hughes Aircraft
Company, working on weapons systems. While at Hughes, he completed
all the course work towards his master's in Electrical Engineering.
Al and Pat were divorced in 1956. From Hughes, Al went to the
Applied Science Corporation of Princeton as a manager in the
Development Section. After a stint with Tele Dynamics Inc., Al
became a contract engineer working on the Minuteman Missile Telemetry
Program. In the early 1960s he worked at Radiation, Inc. in Melbourne,
Florida. They thought so highly of him that they asked him to
work directly for them as program technical director, but he
preferred to continue as a contract engineer.
William R. (Bill) Dineen, president of Dineen Enterprises,
Inc. of Tallmadge, Ohio, wrote: "I started my own temporary
technical contract firm in 1970 and hired Al in 1973. We were
very close personal friends. He would come over to our house
to eat, drink and be merry. He even baby sat my daughters when
they were young. Al was so loved by our family that he was always
included in our Thanksgiving, Christmas, Fathers Day, etc., get
togethers."
Al Riedel died of lung cancer on 14 July 1991.
He is survived by his ex spouse, Pat, and their two children
Patricia Alyce, a former Army nurse and John A III, recently
retired as a master sergeant after 24 years in the Army. A granddaughter,
Kathryn Youngberg, also survives.
Al Riedel made his mark in the world of electronics,
a far cry from what he envisioned as a cadet, but he kept with
him the attributes of Duty, Honor, Country. Bill Dineen remembered,
"Al's personal appearance, habits and technical expertise
exuded all that the United States Military Academy is about.
He was truly a gentleman and scholar." The week after Al's
death, his passing was noted in Contract Employment Weekly, a
national trade publication. In part it said, "Al was a maestro
of the computer keyboard; whether it was developing software
for aircraft simulator systems, or writing music on one of his
home computers. He abhorred paperwork as much as he loved computers.
When Al would reach into the pocket of one of his trademark blue
shirts, it was never for a pen, but for one of the diskettes
he kept close to his heart." The Class of 1946 joins Al's
family and friends in saying, "Well Done, Al, Be Thou At
Peace"!
'46 Memorial Article Project and his family
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