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John J. Sheehan

Recipient of the Purple Heart medal

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 8, 2026
Entity authorityQ1863922 ↗
Source-derived summary

John Joseph "Jack" Sheehan (born August 23, 1940) is a retired United States Marine Corps general. His final active duty commands, culminating 35 years of service in the Marine Corps, were as the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT) for NATO and as Commander-in-Chief for the U.S. Atlantic Command (CINCUSACOM) (1994–1997).

Life and career

Sheehan was born on August 23, 1940, in Somerville, Massachusetts. The son of Irish immigrants, he is one of seven children. He graduated with a B.A. degree in English from Boston College in June 1962. After graduation, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. As a captain, Sheehan was awarded the Silver Star Medal for gallantry during combat operations from September 14 to 17, 1968. He holds an M.S. degree from Georgetown University in Government. His professional military education includes the Amphibious Warfare School, Naval Command and Staff College, and National War College.

He served in various command positions ranging from company commander to brigade commander in both the Atlantic and Pacific theater of operations.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “John J. Sheehan” is recipient of the Purple Heart medal. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through John, Sheehan and Recipient, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1940, 1994, 1997, 1962—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1940-08-23. For this dossier, John, Sheehan and Recipient is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “recipient of the Purple Heart medal” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1863922. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1940, 1994, 1997 and 1962.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “John J. Sheehan”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow John J. Sheehan primary sources, John J. Sheehan archive and John research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “John J. Sheehan”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “John J. Sheehan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.