Project 888
Name: Robert Allen KEENEY
Rank / Rating: ENS-EnsignService #: 420046 DOB: Oct 22, 1923 From: Hartford, Connecticut Parents: William Arthur and Emma (Macristy) Keeney Went Aboard: July 16, 1945 Age When Ship Went Down: 21 years, 9 months, 8 days Spouse: Children: Grandchildren: Bio Submitted By: Admin |
 KEENEY, Robert A |
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Ensign Robert Allan Keeney, USNR, was born in Hartford, Connecticut on Oct. 22, 1923, the only child of William Arthur and Emma Macristy Keeney.
He lived in New Britain, CT until 1925 when the family moved to Wethersfield, CT. He attended the Charles Wright Elementary school in that town and finished his secondary schooling at The Gunnery School, a private prep school in Washington, CT, graduating in 1942.
An average scholar and good athlete, he played three sports and was co-captain of the baseball team in 1942.
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| He entered Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT in the fall of 1942 and pledged to the Chi Psi national fraternity. He enlisted in the USNR V-12 program in July of 1943 while a sophomore at Wesleyan and completed that phase in June of 1944. He then went on to Midshipman School and Cornell University and achieved his commission as Ensign in December of 1944. Quoted from the Graduation Book, “Ya’ got me crying’ Keeney, the only man to graduate who flunked out regularly once a week.” “Gawd, I’ll be in Great Lakes tomorrow.” From Cornell, he shipped off to Miami, Florida for special training when he was assigned to USS Indianapolis (CA35), arriving in San Francisco, California in March 1945. He waited three and a half months for his ship to be repaired and sailed with her on July 16, 1945. This was his first, last, and only sea assignment. It lasted 14 days. As quoted in the Boston Herald in 1946 and in the “Fatal Voyage” his mother wrote, “They told us Bob was in the water from shortly after midnight Sunday night until 4:30 Thursday afternoon before he passed on. How can we draw any comfort from his sacrifice when we know that his life and those of two hundred others immediately around him could have been saved if the Navy had been alert? I have tried hard not to shadow the sacrifices these boys made by bitterness and recrimination, but these agonizing hours my child has suffered will not let me rest.” For a mother's love for her only child and her determination to use her grief for the betterment of others, many people around the world benefitted from her care and generosity. Those in Wethersfield are blessed with a most impressive, restored schoolhouse which is now the Robert Allan Keeney Memorial Cultural Center, and it is open to the public and the Keeney Greenhouse at the High School and the Bourne-Keeney American Legion Post. She was the first major contributor to the USS Indianapolis Memorial, a major contributor to the Hartford Hospital, many churches, and child-help organizations. Mrs. Keeney died March 5, 1995, at the Age of 100 years while vacationing in Florida. Truly. “passing through the valley of sorrow, she made it a place of springs” Psalm 84:6 generalized. | |
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