Richard Putnam Jeffrey

1916 - 2016

Richard Putnam

Jeffrey

Melbourne

Captain Richard P Jeffrey USN (Ret) age 99 a career naval officer and educator died May 7, 2016.

He was a survivor of the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, having been aboard the battleship USS Maryland in "battleship row" in the harbor that day.  His historical recollections have been recorded by THE UNITED STATED DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR and are part of the permanent record in the USS ARIZONA museum in Hawaii.

He was born in Leominster MA on December 31, 1916.  He came to Brevard County in 1982 from Ashburnham MA.  He was a member of the United Methodist Church, the United States Naval Academy Alumni Association, the Military Officers Association of America, the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, the USS MARYLAND Veterans Association and the American Legion.

Captain Jeffrey graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1939.  He was serving aboard the USS Maryland (BB46) in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 during the Japan attack.  Later he served on the staff of the Supreme Commander in Chief Allied Forces Europe in Frankfort, Germany.  In 1946 he returned to the United States as a member of the US Navy prize crew of the ex-German cruiser Prinz Eugen.  From 1961 - 1962 he was one of the Commanding Officers at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  He was the recipient of the Bronze Star and many other military decorations.

After retiring from the Navy he was appointed by the Massachusetts Legislature to Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner, MA from which he retired as Dean Emeritus.

He completed the senior course at the Naval War College in Newport, RI in 1951 and served on the faculty of that institution from 1953 to 1956.  He received a Master of Business Administration Degree from Hofstra University in 1960.

He is survived by his daughter Patricia Hermann and her husband Jeffrey Hermann of State College, PA; son Richard P Jeffrey Jr. of South Hampton, NH; grandchildren Christina Thompson and her husband Jeremy Thompson of Falls Church, VA, and Jeffrey Hermann and his wife Katherine Hermann, of Fairfax, VA; and great granddaughters, Sage Thompson, Claire Hermann, and Ella Thompson.

Services with be held at Arlington National Cemetery.  Donations may be made to the United States Naval Academy Alumni Association. You may sign Richard's guestbook at www.beckmanwilliamsonviera.com.