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Colonel Patricia Ann [Hess] Jernigan, an Army veteran whose 28-year military career included service in Vietnam and two tours in Germany, died on 6 January at INova Fairfax Hospital in Fairfax, Virginia. She was 83. Known by friends as Pat, she joined the Navy and was commissioned an ensign in December 1964. She was trained as a cryptographer and served for two years as a communications watch officer at the U.S. Naval Communications Center at the Pentagon. Recognizing that women had little opportunity for career advancement in the Navy, Pat transferred to the Army and received a direct commission as a first lieutenant in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in December 1966.
Her first assignment in the U.S. Army was as a company executive officer at the WAC Training Center and School at Fort McClellan, Alabama. She was promoted to captain in 1967 and served as the Delta Company Commander for WAC Training Battalion for 18 months. Then, she was branch detailed to the Military Intelligence Corps in October 1968, and attended the counter intelligence agent course. She was subsequently reassigned to Deputy Chief of Staff, Intelligence, Headquarters, 7th Army, United States Army Europe (USAREUR) in Heidelberg, Germany. She worked in the General Security Branch where she monitored security education for USAREUR.
Pat served at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Vietnam for 6 months, as a division chief in the S-3 operations section with Headquarters, 525th Military Intelligence Group, known in Vietnam as the 525th Combat Evacuation Group. Then, as a J-2 intelligence analyst with the 525th Military Intelligence Group, Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) for another 6 months.
Upon completion of her tour of duty in Vietnam, Pat was reassigned to Munich, Germany, and for the next 4 years she served as a Personal Security Investigations Officer, Assistant S2/Intelligence Officer and Assistant Operations Officer with the Military Intelligence Group. In 1976 she was reassigned as the Operations Officer for the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), Fort Belvoir, Virginia. In 1984 she graduated from the Army War College. In 1985, Pat served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Security for the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee for President Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration. After a second tour in Vaihingen, Germany as the EUCOM J2 Staff Officer, she spent the next five years working in the Pentagon for the Department of the Army, Office of the Inspector General, and two tours of duty with the Defense Intelligence Agency. She was promoted to Colonel in 1986. Pat’s distinguished 28-year military career culminated with her assignment as the Chief of Staff, of the Army Intelligence Agency, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, in 1992.
After her military retirement she worked as a senior intelligence analyst for a small defense contractor for 10-years. From 2001-2004, she was employed as a collection manager for the Smithsonian, National Museum of American History, where she worked on an exhibit entitled “West Point in the Making of America. In retirement, her volunteer work included the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, the Udvar-Hazy Center, and the National Mall Building of the Air and Space Museum, the Military Women’s Memorial Foundation, the Army Women’s Foundation, and the Washington, DC VA Medical Center’s Fisher House, and VA Center for Development and Civic Engagement (CDCE).
In recognition of Pat’s extraordinary military service and impact on women in the Army, she was inducted into the Army Women's Foundation Hall of Fame in 2018.
Pat's family will host a Celebration of Life event for Patricia Ann (Hess) Jernigan on February 28, 2026 at 1:00PM at the Military Women’s Memorial. RSVPs are requested to PJCelebrationofLife022826@gmail.com no later than 20 February 2026. Please include a list of the names of all individuals who plan to attend.
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