textonnenjohnhenryjr.html

North High School Wall of Honor
John Henry Onnen, Jr.
Class of January, 1944

Research done by Claradell Shedd, class of 1953.

John Henry Onnen, Jr.

John graduated from North High in January, 1944. At the time, his next of kin was Mr. John H. Onnen, 3419 Oxford Street, Des Moines, IA. His service number is _______.

John Henry Onnen, Jr.

Year		Rank		Status

Fall, 1943		Enlisted		Enlisted in the US Naval Air Force. The Navy permitted him to finish out his high school and graduate in Janury, 1944..
January, 1944	x	Graduated	x	North Des Moines High School
date		US Navy		Basic Training. Where? When?
date	x	US Navy	x	Where? When?
date		US Navy		In *V-12 Program (Navy College Officers' Training Program), St. Ambrose College, Davenport, IA; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN; St. Mary's College, CA; Glenview Naval Air Station, Glenview, IL
1945	x	U.S. Navy	x	**Glenview Naval Air Station, IL
Fall, 1945	x	Discharged	x	Discharged where and when?
Fall, 1945- June, 1949	x		x	Iowa State College, Ames, IA; BS in chemical engineering
Sept 1, 1947	x	Family	x	Married Virginia Wise (NHS, June, 1945) in Des Moines, IA
1947	x	Employment	x	Mallinckrodt Chemical Company, St. Louis, MO
1951	x	Employment	x	Working for Arabian American Oil Company (***ARAMCO) in New York as a chemical engineer
After 1951	x	Employment	x	Working for Arabian American Oil Company (**ARAMCO). Spent 1-1/2 years at the MECAS School in Shemlan, Lebanon, studying Arabic.
1983	x	Retired	x	From ARAMCO as Manager of Oil Supply Planning and Scheduling
May 24, 2010	x	Deceased	x	Austin, TX

*V-12 Navy College Officers Training Program
The V-12 Navy College Training Program was designed to supplement the force of commissioned officers in the United States Navy during World War II. Between July 1, 1943, and June 30, 1946, more than 125,000 men were enrolled in the V-12 program in 131 colleges and universities in the United States. V-12 was similar to the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) which ran from 1942 to 1944 with a goal of providing more than 200,000 Army officers.

The purpose of the V-12 program was to grant bachelor's degrees to future officers drawn from both the U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps. Once they completed their baccalaureate program, the next step toward obtaining a Navy commission was to attend a U.S. Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School where the future officer was required to complete the V-7 program, a short course of four months, including one month spent in indoctrination school. Graduates from the midshipmen schools were commissioned as ensigns in the U.S. Naval Reserve and the majority entered into active duty with the U.S. fleet. Graduates in the V-12 Program from the Marine Corps reported directly to boot camp and were later enrolled in a three-month Officer Candidate Course. Once they completed the training, participants received their commission as Marine Corps second lieutenants.

**Glenview Naval Air Station, IL
Naval Air Station Glenview or NAS Glenview was an operational U.S. Naval Air Station from 1923 to 1995. Located in Glenview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, the air base primarily operated training aircraft as well as seaplanes on nearby Lake Michigan during WWII. Reconfigured as a Naval Air Reserve base following WWII, NAS Glenview supported Naval Air Reserve and Marine Air Reserve/4th Marine Aircraft Wing units, as well as an active duty Coast Guard Air Station.

***ARAMCO (http://www.saudiaramco.com/en/home.html)
Saudi Aramco, a fully integrated, global petroleum and chemicals enterprise, is the state-owned oil company of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Through our 80-year history we have become a world leader in hydrocarbons exploration, production, refining, distribution, shipping and marketing, and the world’s top exporter of crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs). We manage proven conventional crude oil and condensate reserves of 260.2 billion barrels. Our average daily crude production in 2012 was 9.5 million barrels per day (bpd).




February, 1945: John Henry Onnen, Jr.	**ARAMCO Logo

John Henry Onnen, Jr
Rank
Navy Group
US Navy

Get correct patch

References

The comprehensive list of names from North High's 1893-2018 graduation classes are from Claradell Shedd's North Des Moines High School website. The names of all North High School graduates can be found online at http://www.ndmhs.com/. John Henry Onnen's 1944 class page can be viewed at
http://www.ndmhs.com/pages/yearclass1944(2009.65).html.

Died 05/24/10. Obituary: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/statesman/obituary.aspx?n=john-henry-onnen&pid=143216443

Music: "Anchors Aweigh"