Posted on 05/16/2007 6:37:02 PM PDT by SandRat
VIENNA, Va. — A former commander of the main Signal Corps unit on Fort Huachuca and of the post in the 1970s died Saturday at Walter Reed Medical Center, in Washington, D.C.
For nearly five years Maj. Gen. Jack A. Albright commanded the Army Strategic Communications Command beginning on Oct. 29, 1971. STRATCOM was renamed the Army Communications Command in October 1973, which he headed until his retirement on April 29, 1976.
Maj. Gen. Albright Albright, who was 86 when he died last week, was assigned to the fort as brigadier general and the deputy commander of STRATCOM in December 1970. Upon assuming command of the organization, he was promoted to major general.
The general’s nearly 37-year Army career started as an enlisted soldier in 1939. He was assigned to Hickam Field in Hawaii and was there on Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked various military installations in what was then the Territory of Hawaii.
Born in Tennessee on Jan. 10, 1921, the general graduated from Lake High School in 1939.
After two and a half years as an enlisted soldier, he attended the fifth class of the Signal Corps Officers Candidate School and was commissioned on June 3, 1942.
His initial assignment was with a radio intercept company in Key West, Fla., which used intercepting and direction finding techniques against German submarines preying on East Coast shipping.
In March 1943, the company moved to North Africa, doing the same type of operations against the German U-boat threat in the Mediterranean Sea.
Later that year, he was evacuated from North Africa to the United States, suffering from colitis and dysentery, ending his war service.
After recuperating, he was assigned to the Central Signal Corps School at Camp Crowder, Mo., first as an instructor and then as assistant officer in charge of the Code and Traffic Branch.
His career continued in peacetime with various Signal Corps assignments in New Jersey and Alaska.
While serving in Alaska, he survived an airplane crash. His injuries were extensive, requiring 18 months to recuperate.
When Albright returned to duty he went to the Signal Corps officers’ school in Missouri, followed by assignments in Belgium, Kansas, Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
One of his assignments was as the commander of the White House Communications Agency.
Beginning in June 1969, he served as the deputy commanding general of the 1st Signal Brigade in Long Binh, South Vietnam, and upon completing that assignment, he arrived on Fort Huachuca.
Albright’s funeral will be delayed until arrangements for full services for a general officer can be accomplished.
His funeral service at the Fort Myer Chapel is scheduled for July 27 at 9 a.m. He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery with the appropriate honors following the service. The visitation will be held July 26, at Money and King Funeral Home in Vienna, Va., from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m.
The family asks that interested parties make a donation to the Memorial Fund at Wesley United Methodist Church or to a favorite charity instead of sending flowers.
Those wishing to make a donation to the church may send it to: The Memorial Fund In Memory of Jack Albright, Wesley United Methodist Church, 1711 Spring Street, SE, Vienna VA 22180.
herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or at bill.hess@svherald.com.
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