John T. Knudsen was born on Oct. 24th, 1922. He enlisted in the Naval Reserve in June of 1940. He entered the US Naval Academy in July of 1941, graduating in 1944 with the accelerated Class of 1945. He served on the cruiser USS SLC CA25 during WWII.

Postwar assignments included service on the cruiser USS ATLANTA CL104, six months of Submarine School in Jan. of 1947, and thereafter, by a series of submarine related duties.

His first submarine was the USS TORSK in new London, CT. This was followed by an 18-month assignment in Feb. of 1951 as an ASW Instructor at the Fleet Airborne Electronics Training Command Pacific in San Diego, CA.

In Aug. of 1952 he reported aboard the submarine USS STERLET as Executive Officer for two years. After attending the Command and Staff course at the naval War College in Newport, RI., he reported to the Commander Submarine Force, Pacific as the Assistant Plans and Operations Officer.

In June of 1956, he assumed command of the USS GREENFISH in Pearl Harbor, HI. Upon completion of his tour in August of 1958 he joined the Special Projects Office as the POLARIS Manning and Training Officer. His final navy assignment was as Commander Submarine Division ELEVEN in Pearl Harbor from August of 1964 until his retirement in May of 1965.

Upon retirement, he joined Howard Research Corp. in July of 1965. This company was engaged in providing engineering services to the US Gov., primarily the US navy. It was acquired by Control Data Corp. in Oct. of 1965. In Jan., 1966, he became the Director of the FBM Department. While primarily engaged in providing support to the Special Projects Office of the navy, this Department's responsibilities were broadened to include the corporate efforts to design, develop and deliver a Tactical Operational System to Heidelberg, Germany. The program for this transportable operation center for the US Army was four months behind schedule and overrun by as estimated million dollars. The TOS was accepted by the US Army in Sept. of 1967, two weeks prior to schedule.

In Feb. of 1968 his title was changed to Director of Program management in the newly organized Washington Space and Defense Systems Division. In July of 1969 he joined two other former Howard Research associates to form Systematic General Corp., Inc. This company was engaged in providing scientific testing, engineering and management services to the US Government in the specialized fields of secure communications, night vision technology and electro-optics. As a Director and Executive Vice President he participated in the preparation and transition of the company from a privately owned corporation to a public corporation, the acquisition of several companies, namely, National Scientific Lab., Inc., Recognition Systems, Inc., Electronic Systems, Inc., Waste management Systems, Inc., and two refuse collection companies. These companies were subsequently reorganized into a parent company and two subsidiaries.

He served as President and Treasurer of WMS in the companies non-defense related effort in the solid waste management field for 15 months before selling it to another company. In July of 1972 he left SGC and joined Health Education and Welfare as a Management Consultant in it's effort to bring fiscal responsibility to the Aid for Dependant Children programs. He later took up this challenge as a civil servant and applied the lessons learned to the Medicaid Program. In Aug. of 1984, he retired as a GS 15 from government service.

John married Linda Deaton on Nov. 11th, 1946 and they have one daughter and four sons and currently, eleven grandchildren.

Signed Autograph Book of J.D. Kelley, FC2c