More detail on this person: LTJG Kevin
F.Delaney served in HA(L)-3 with Detachment 8,
Callsign "Seawolf 82" from 12/12/1969 to 12/7/1970
flying 686 UH-1B combat missions. At the time of
his retirement, Admiral Delaney was the most
highly decorated officer in the U.S. Navy
receiving the Navy Distinguished Service Medal,
Silver Star, 4 Legion of Merit Medals,
Distinguished Flying Cross, 11 Single Action Air
Medals, 26 Strike/Flight Air Medals with Combat V,
6 Navy Commendation Medals (4 with Combat V),
Navy Achievement Medal, Combat Action Ribbon,
Presidential Unit Citation, 6 Republic of Vietnam
Gallantry Crosses, Meritorious Service Medal and
many others.
Obituary: Florida Times-Union On-Line April 8,
2015
Jacksonville civic leader, warrior and family man:
Rear Adm. Kevin Delaney, Sept. 23, 1946 to April
7, 2015
By Clifford Davis
Rear Adm. Kevin Delaney who flew 686 combat
missions in Vietnam and went on to serve as
commanding officer of Navy Region Southeast,
passed away Tuesday from lung cancer caused by
toxic herbicide Agent Orange, according to his
family. He was 68.
Though Delaney retired as the most decorated
officer in the U.S. Navy and went on to an
astounding career after the service, people who
knew him remember him for his seemingly endless
heart for others.
His daughter Kelly Delaney remembers him as
Daddy. He was the kind of dad who, on Christmas
Eve, would stay up until 3 a.m. to put together
the Barbie Dreamhouse, Kelly Delaney said. He'd
get all the bicycles together and then we'd all
wake up at 5 a.m. He was just that kind of a dad.
Delaney was born Sept. 23, 1946, in Torrington,
Conn., to Mildred Keyo and John V. Delaney. His
Navy career began at the U.S. Naval Academy
where he graduated in 1968 _ leaving quickly for
Vietnam. He'd never even been on an airplane
before leaving for the academy.
As about the only two officers who raised their
hand when asked, Who wants to go Helos? Kevin
and I met on the first day of Flight School, Capt.
J.A. Curtis posted on their unit's website. We
both wanted Helos [helicopters] and we both
wanted to go to HA(L)-3.¥ It didn't take long for
Delaney to get his wish to join the vaunted
Seawolves.
While most of our pilots were being sent through
Huey training at Fort Benning and Fort Rucker,
there were a few of us lucky ones, who, for fiscal
reasons, were sent directly to Vietnam where our
first rockets and bullets were fired as on the job
training, Delaney said at the unit's 1994 reunion.
Soon many of us learned that chewing gum or
grease pencil marks, placed on the cockpit
windshield, made far less cumbersome and far
more accurate gun and rocket sights than those
provided by the rocket scientists and bureaucrats
in Washington.
Helicopter Attack Squadron 3 _ better known as the
Seawolves _ was a la land-based, Navy helicopter
unit charged with helping naval riverine forces to
block North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong
infiltration and use of the rivers, canals and
jungle that made up the Mekong Delta. But over
time, that mission expanded to include many other
tasks.
Rarely did a cry for help come from a voice which
we didn't recognize,¥ Delaney said. And it soon
became a rather personal war for each of us the
first time we medevaced a seriously wounded
friend, or carried a body bag containing the
remains of a classmate, friend, or comrade. After
Vietnam, Delaney stayed in the Navy moving on to
command assignments including Jacksonville Naval
Air Station.
As commanding officer of Jacksonville Naval Air
Station for less than two years, he already has
drawn more acclaim to the base than it has ever
received, and put Jacksonville firmly on the
Navy's map this month when the base was named
the Navy's best in the world,¥ the Times-Union
wrote in 1991. Fellow sailors, base employees and
community leaders describe him as a dynamo, a
miracle worker, who's in his office at 5 a.m. and
one of the last ones to go home.
He also instituted a recycling and cleanliness
program that lives on today with new base
initiatives that carry on that legacy. Reaching
the rank of rear admiral, Delaney was again
stationed at the air base as the commander of Navy
Region Southeast, where he retired in 1998. It
wasn't so much a retirement for Delaney as a
re-arming.
He went on to serve on the boards of 19 local
nonprofits including Wounded Warrior Project,
Jacksonville University and Ronald McDonald
House. Delaney also made regular visits to Mayport
to speak with officers and enlisted sailors
transitioning out of the military, according to
retired Capt. Aaron Bowman who was the base's
commanding officer at the time.
Here's a guy who was a Naval Academy graduate
and had almost 700 combat missions in Vietnam,
Bowman said. He was one of the most gregarious
and friendly guys youd ever meet. We all have
role models and we ask ourselves who we would
really want to be like _ that's the guy for me.
Even on non-profits where he didn't serve
officially, Delaney served as an adviser and
mentor. Jacksonville lost a very special man,¥
said Shari Duval, president of K9s for Warriors,
which provides service dogs for veterans. He was
my hero and I don't know how to describe him other
than amazing. He's an amazing man. He did so
much for so many people, and humble.
Right up until the end of his life, Delaney
remained concerned about others. While in the
final months of his life, Delaney wrote
recommendations to colleges for one staff member
at Naval Hospital Jacksonville and another at Mayo
Clinic.
That's just who my dad was,âÇ¥ Kelly Delaney
said. For Kelly, this is one more temporary
separation from her father. When I was 6, my
sisters were five years younger and in a double
stroller as we stood on the docks at Norfolk in
1976, she said. Dad's ship, the USS Pharris, was
pulling out on deployment and I broke loose from
my mother running in my dress screaming, Daddy,
don't leave me at the top of my lungs. Dad said
everyone was standing at attention wiping their
eyes and asking Who's kid is that?
He said, I could hear you clear as day.¥
Delaney is survived by his wife of 47 years, Pat,
and three daughters, Kelly, Diana and Seana, as
well as five grandsons. Services are tentatively
scheduled for April 20 at Jacksonville Naval Air
Station. When plans are finalized the Times-Union
will publish the information.
Times-Union reporter Andrew Pantazi contributed to
this story
This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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