George Richard Greeley – Captain, United States Navy

From a contemporary press report:

George Richard Greeley, 81, a retired Navy Captain who was a specialist in communications and cryptology, died of pneumonia January 27, 1999 at Doctors Hospital in Lanham. He had suffered a stroke.

Captain Greeley, a resident of Bowie, was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and he graduated from the University of Scranton.

He began his Navy career in 1941. During World War II, he served aboard the battleship Washington on convoy duty in the North Atlantic and later in the Pacific. He also served aboard the battleship Iowa and the aircraft carriers Shangri-La and Wasp.

In the postwar years, Captain Greeley had tours of duty as officer in charge of the naval radio stations in Charleston, S.C., and Recife, Brazil, and as commanding officer of the communications station at Adak, Alaska.

He served on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations and the Naval Security Group in Washington and the staff of the commander-in-chief of the Atlantic Fleet in Norfolk. He had three tours of duty at the National Security Agency, and he was stationed there when he retired in 1971.

Captain Greeley's military decorations included two awards of the Joint Service Commendation Medal.

In retirement, Captain Greeley earned a master's degree in education at American University and did graduate work in Russian studies at the University of Maryland. He had lived in the Washington area since 1965.

Captain Greeley was a member of the Retired Officers Association, the Naval Cryptological Veterans Association, the Phoenix Society, the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Knights of Columbus and the parish of the Ascension Catholic Church in Bowie.

His wife, Catherine Alice Greeley, died in 1983.

Survivors include a daughter, Patricia Collins of Bowie; a brother, Dr. Joseph P. Greeley of Westfield, N.J.; a sister, Anna Mae Buckelew of Macungie, Pa.; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

A son, George R. Greeley Jr., died in 1992.


GREELEY, GEORGE RICHARD, CAPT, USN (Ret.) 

On January 27, 1999, of Bowie, MD, beloved husband of the late Catherine A. Greeley; father of Patricia A. Collins and the late George Richard Greeley, Jr.; brother of Dr. Joseph P. Greeley and Anna Mae Buckelew; grandfather of six; and great grandfather of one. Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at Ascension Catholic Church, 12700 Lanham-Severn Road, Bowie, MD on Thursday, February 4, 1999 at 11 a.m. Interment Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.

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