Kenyon Ashe Joyce of New York
Served in the United States Army, Private Company K, 1st Illinois Infantry, 26 April to 17 November 1898
Private, Troop B, 3rd U. S. Cavalry, 3 March 1900 to 10 October 1901
Second Lieutenant, 6th U. S. Cavalry, 2 February 1901
He joined the Army as a Private during the Spanish-American War and rose through the ranks to Major General. He was wounded by a grenade in World War I and thereafter did not have use of one hand.
He was commander of Fort Myer, Virginia, (adjacent to Arlington) from 1933 to 1937 and he supervised the construction of the Chapel from which his own funeral was conducted following his death in San Francisco on January 11, 1960. He was buried in Section 30 of Arlington National Cemetery.
MAJOR GENERAL JOYCE, 80, IS DEAD ON COAST, SERVED 44 YEARS
SAN FRANCISCO, California, January 11, 1960 – Major General Kenyon A. Joyce, who joined the Army as a Private during the Spanish-American War, died of leukemia tonight at Letterman Army Hospital. He was 80 years old.
General Joyce retired in 1943. His lat post was commander of the Ninth Service Command at Fort Douglas, Utah. During his forty-four years of service he received numerous awards including the Distinguished Service Medal and the French Croix de Guerre.
After serving in the Spanish-American War he saw combat with the cavalry during the Philippine Insurrection. In 1906 he served with an Army detachment that surrounded and captured a band of hostile Ute Indians on the Little Powder River in Montana.
During World War I he saw action in France. From 1940 to 1942 he was commander of the Ninth Army Corps at Fort Lewis, Washington.
Surviving is his widow, Mary Kane Drury Joyce. A military service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery.
As a Colonel in World War I, General Joyce was seriously wounded by the explosion of a trench mortar in France. While commander of the First Cavalry Division at Fort Bliss, Texas, in 1939, with the rank of Brigadier General, he specialized in the coordination of the new mechanized cavalry with the old horse cavalry.
“In the laboratory of our Army interesting experiments are being conducted in how best to utilize the horse on the battlefield in conjunction with the motorized unite,” he wrote.
One of General Joyce’s last active assignments was a Deputy President of the Allied Control Commission for Italy in November 1943. In that post he became an aide to General Eisenhower, the Commander in Chief, and was directly responsible to him.
PRESIDENT AT JOYCE FUNERAL
WASHINGTON, January 18, 1960 – President and Mrs. Eisenhower drove to nearby Fort Myer, Virginia, today to attend a funeral service for Major General Kenyon A. Joyce, who died last Monday in San Francisco. The President was Chief of Staff to General Joyce when both were stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington, before World War II. The Episcopal service was held in the Fort Myer Chapel. Burial was in Arlington National Cemetery.
JOYCE, HELEN JONES W/O KENYON ASHE
- DATE OF BIRTH: 02/25/1886
- DATE OF DEATH: 07/17/1951
- DATE OF INTERMENT: 07/23/1951
- BURIED AT: SECTION 30 SITE 1052-R.H
- ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
- WIFE OF KA JOYCE – MAJOR GEN USA
JOYCE, KENYON ASHE
- M/GEN USA
- VETERAN SERVICE DATES: Unknown
- DATE OF BIRTH: 11/03/1879
- DATE OF DEATH: 01/11/1960
- DATE OF INTERMENT: 01/18/1960
- BURIED AT: SECTION 30 SITE 1052 LH
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
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