James D. O'Connell
- Birthdate
- 1899/09/25
- Birthplace
- Chicago, IL, USA
- Associated organizations
- United States Army
Biography
James D. O'Connell (IRE Senior Member, 1953, and Fellow, 1957), Lieutenant General, USA (Ret.) was born in Chicago, Illinois, on 25 September 1899. He received the B.S. degree, in 1922, from the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, and the M.S. degree in communications engineering from the Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University.
Before World War II, O'Connell served in a variety of troop assignments and commands overseas and in the United States. In addition, he attended the Signal School, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois; Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University; and the Command General Staff School.
During World War II, O'Connell served in Washington, D.C., in the North African theater, and later in the European theater. Following the war, he served as Commanding Officer, Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories; Signal Officer, Eighth U.S. Army in Japan; Signal Officer, Second U.S. Army; Deputy Chief Signal Officer and Chief Signal Officer, U.S. Army. He held both foreign and U.S. Army decorations, including the Distinguished Service Medal. He retired in May 1959, and later that year became a Vice President of General Telephone, and Electronic Laboratories.
O'Connell was a member of the Joint Technical Advisory Committee of the IRE-EIA, and Chairman, JTAC Ad Hoc Committee 60.2 Space Communications.
