Publish Date 
Written by From a contemporary press report:
Alvin McLean Churchwell, 79, a retired Army Colonel who was a project manager on the Defense Department communications system known as Autodin, died of congestive heart failure November 28, 2001, at his home in Springfield, Virginia.
Colonel Churchwell, a native of Huntingdon, Tennessee, served 28 years in the Army before retiring in 1970 while on assignment with the Defense Communications Agency in Arlington.
He entered the Army in 1943 and served as a communications officer in Europe and Africa during World War II. He also served in Korea during the war there.
In later years, he was stationed in Tokyo as commanding officer for the Defense Communications Agency.
His military decorations included the Bronze Star.
In retirement, he spent about 15 years with Comsat and Intelsat, both in Washington, as a senior operations manager of satellite communications projects.
His daughter, Jacquelyn Churchwell, died in 1975.
Survivors include his wife of 54 years, E. Eleanor Churchwell of Springfield; two sons, Robert, of Springfield and William, of Catlett, Virginia.; two sisters; and two grandchildren.
CHURCHWELL, ALVIN M
COL US ARMY
VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 03/27/1943 – 07/31/1970
DATE OF BIRTH: 04/15/1922
DATE OF DEATH: 11/28/2001
DATE OF INTERMENT: 12/11/2001
BURIED AT: SECTION 66 SITE 6391
Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.
Reviewed by: Michael Howard