Florida Today, FL
March 11 2006
Army colonel to be laid to rest
BY RICK NEALE
FLORIDA TODAY
MELBOURNE – A decorated U.S. Army intelligence officer whose portrait
hangs in the Hawaii Army Museum Gallery of Heroes will be
memorialized during a funeral this morning in Melbourne.
Col. John Kizirian, 77, died Feb. 26 after a brief illness at Holmes
Regional Medical Center. He fought nine battle campaigns in Korea and
Vietnam, earning dozens of medals and accolades for battlefield
bravery and behind-the-scenes brainpower far from the theater of
operation, family members said.
Kizirian spoke fluent Armenian — his parents were immigrants — plus
Persian, Indonesian, Spanish and English.
He was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for “extraordinary
heroism and devotion to duty” during a prolonged May 1967 firefight
against Viet Cong forces, according to information provided by museum
curator Judy Bowman.
Family members say he helped predict the Tet Offensive, the
wide-ranging 1968 attack by North Vietnamese forces, by reporting the
massing of enemy troops in the vicinity.
“My three brothers were looking through this, and they were crying
because of all the lives that Jonathan saved,” said his wife, Carol
Kizirian, fighting back tears and flipping through a thick file
folder of military photographs and documents. “I didn’t even know. He
was very modest, and he didn’t talk about those things.”
The funeral service takes place at 11 a.m. today at St. Paul’s
Anglican Church, 7200 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne. He will be buried
March 24 in Arlington National Cemetery, Carol said.
Kizirian’s niece, Lesley Kissick of Montara, Calif., believes he
should receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. Last August, she
wrote a letter to U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Indialantic, asking for
legislative help on her uncle’s behalf.
“I really wish it would have happened when he was alive,” Kissick
said of the accolade. “But posthumously is OK.”
Weldon’s press secretary, Jaillene Hunter, said family members must
first sign a privacy waiver before background research can begin.
Kissick said she will contact Weldon’s office to do so.
Kizirian grew up in Whitinsville, Mass., where he became the tiny
city’s first-ever Eagle Scout. He quit high school during his junior
year and joined the military at age 17, right at the tail end of
World War II, according to a transcript of a 1993 interview provided
by his wife.
He retired from the Army in 1975 but returned to active duty in 1980,
serving as a defense official in the U.S. Embassy in
Jakarta-Indonesia. He retired for good in 1984. Then-Secretary of
Defense Alexander Haig later offered Kizirian a high-level defense
department job, but he declined the post so that he could care for
his ailing wife, Edith, his obituary states.
After Edith’s death, Kizirian moved from Hawaii to Melbourne seven
years ago. He asked Carol to the movies, they dated and then married
in May 2001, she said.
Kizirian commanded authority, even when socializing at the Eau Gallie
Yacht Club. Carol recalled how, when necessary, he spoke in “his
booming colonel voice that would scare the beejeebies out of anyone.”
But she also said he had a tender, loving side. An avid boater, he
enjoyed flying, storytelling and collecting ornate objects from
around the world.
Photo: Hero. In this 2000 family photo, Col. John Kizirian stands
next to his own portrait in the Hawaii Army Museum Gallery of Heroes.
Kizirian fought nine battle campaigns in Korea and Vietnam, earning
dozens of medals. For FLORIDA TODAY
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