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Contact Info
Home Town Los Angeles, Calif.
Last Address Murrieta, California,
Date of Passing Feb 12, 2016
Location of Interment Miramar National Cemetery (VA) - San Diego, California
Jack Keene joined the Navy in January 1954 and was designated a naval aviator in May, 1955. A veteran at the zenith of the Cold War, he began his naval career as a fighter pilot flying both the F9F8 Cougar and the FJ-4B Fury jet aircraft. Jack accumulated 140 aircraft carrier landings on board the USS Shangri-La (CV-38), USS Oriskany (CV-34), and USS Midway (CV-41) aircraft carriers. He proudly served in the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis and other Southeast Asia operations as a fighter pilot in VF-63, VA-63, and VA-22 Navy squadrons. Transitioning to the land based mission of maritime patrol, Jack then flew the P-2V Neptune in Patrol Squadron TWO (VP-2) and deployed to Kodiak and Adak in Alaska, and Iwakuni Island in Japan. During the later deployment, he participated in the initial establishment of the Market Time air barrier and Yankee Teams operations in support of the Vietnam War in 1965.
In 1965, Jack was “hand-selected” to serve the Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, on his staff in the Pentagon until 1967, and then moved out west to Fleet Air Wing 10 at Moffett Field, California, where he deployed to Sangley Point, the Republic of the Philippines. It was during this period that Jack transitioned to the Navy P-3 Orion combat patrol aircraft equipped to hunt Soviet Union submarines. Competitively selected by the Chief of Naval Operations, Jack was ordered to take operational command of Patrol Squadron TWENTY-TWO (VP-22) in Barbers Point, Hawaii. Reporting as the squadron’s Executive Officer in March 1970, Jack took command in July 1971 and served as the squadron’s ‘skipper’ until June 1972. While in command, VP-22 deployed to Naha, Okinawa and conducted extensive operations throughout Southeast Asia and Vietnam. VP-22 also was awarded the Chief of Naval Operations “Safety Award” for operating for more than 150,000 hours of accident free hours. In accepting the award, Jack remarked, “The CNO Safety Award is an honor but more than that, it is recognition of the hard work and long hours each of you have contributed to make the “Blue Geese” the most effective and safest squadron in the VP Navy.”
In August of 1978, Jack was selected for major aviation command and became the Commander of all Naval Forces, Iceland. Commensurate with this assignment, he was dual-hatted as the Commanding Officer of Naval Station, Keflavik. He served in Iceland until 1980 when he then moved back to the West Coast and was assigned as the Chief of Staff, Patrol Wings Pacific at Moffett Field, California. In January 1983, Jack earned his third and final command tour as the Commanding Officer of Fleet Aviation Specialized Operational Training Group, Pacific Fleet (FASOTRAGRUPAC). During this command tour, he was responsible for over 1,000 personnel and multiple detachment sites assigned to deliver essential fleet aviation training in the operation and tactical employment of aviation systems and equipment for Navy and Marine Corps aircrew.
In addition to all his operational tours, Jack was a graduate and student at the US Naval War College (where he also completed a Master of Arts from Salve Regina University, Newport, Rhode Island), US Navy Postgraduate School, the Foreign Service Institute in Washington D.C., and the Royal Norwegian Defense College.
Jack retired from the United States Navy in June 1984 after a 30 year remarkable and illustrious career of service to our nation. During his career, Jack earned and was awarded the Legion of Merit (the Navy’s 6th most highest precedence award for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements), the Meritorious Service Medal (given in recognition of Jack’s superlative command tour in VP-22), the Joint Service Commendation Medal (given for his exceptional service on the Secretary of Defense staff), the National Defense Service Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal among other unit citations and letters of commendation. Jack’s deeply rooted patriotism and sense of selfless service would echo the sentiment within President Kennedy’s famous quote – “And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worth-while, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: ‘I served in the United States Navy.’”
Vietnam War/Tet Counteroffensive Campaign (68)/ Yankee Station, North Vietnam
From Month/Year
January / 1968
To Month/Year
April / 1968
Description Yankee Station was a point in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of Vietnam used by the U.S. Navy aircraft carriers of Task Force 77 to launch strikes in the Vietnam War. While its official designation was "Point Yankee," it was universally referred to as Yankee Station. Carriers conducting air operations at Yankee Station were said to be "on the line" and statistical summaries were based on days on the line.
The name derived from it being the geographic reference point "Y", pronounced "Yankee" in the NATO phonetic alphabet. In turn the term Point Yankee derived from the launch point for "Yankee Team" aerial reconnaissance missions over Laos conducted in 1964. It was located about 190 km due east of Dong Hoi, at 17° 30' N and 108° 30' E.
During the two periods of sustained air operations against North Vietnam (March 2, 1965-October 31, 1968 and March 30, 1972-December 29, 1972) there were normally three carriers on the line, each conducting air operations for twelve hours, then off for twelve hours. One of the carriers would operate from noon to midnight, another from midnight to noon, and one during daylight hours, which gave 24-hour coverage plus additional effort during daylight hours, when sorties were most effective. However at the end of May, 1972, six carriers were for a short period of time on the line at Yankee Station conducting Linebacker strikes.
The first aircraft carrier at Yankee Station was USS Kitty Hawk, which was ordered there in April 1964 for the Yankee Team missions. Kitty Hawk was joined by Ticonderoga in May and Constellation in June, two months prior to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Ticonderoga and Constellation launched the first bombing missions from Yankee Station on August 5, 1964. Constellation was also the last carrier conducting operations at Yankee Station on August 15, 1973. USS Forrestal suffered a major accident while at Yankee Station when a series of fires and explosions on her deck killed 134 men and injured another 161.
A corresponding Dixie Station in the South China Sea off the Mekong Delta was a single carrier point for conducting strikes within South Vietnam from May 15, 1965 to August 3, 1966.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
January / 1968
To Month/Year
April / 1968
Last Updated: Dec 22, 2023
Personal Memories
Memories Jack Keene participated in the initial establishment of the Market Time air barrier and Yankee Teams operations in support of the Vietnam War in 1965.
