John Birdsell Oren

Oren was born on December 27, 1909 in Madison, Wisconsin. He obtained a M.S. in Marine Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Oren married Virginia Prentis, who died in 2002. They had two children, Joan Strickler[1] and John Oren.

Admiral Oren is survived by a daughter, Joan Oren Strickler and her husband, Warren, of Harrisonburg; a son, John Edward Oren and his wife, Diane, of Winston-Salem, N.C.; five granddaughters, Robin Strickler of Rwanda, East Africa, Alison Strickler of Chicago, Ill., Laura Strickler of Washington, D.C., Sydney McLure Carr of Ashburn, Va., Tara Oren of Winston-Salem; and a great-granddaughter, Adeline Grace Carr.

Oren died on December 22, 2006 in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.

Oren originally joined the United States Navy in 1928 and later entered the United States Naval Academy. A year after entering the Naval Academy, he transferred to the United States Coast Guard Academy, graduating in 1933. During World War II, he served in the North Atlantic and the Pacific theaters. Later in his career, he served as Chief of Engineering of the Coast Guard and as president of the Society of American Military Engineers in 1966.[2] He retired in 1967.

Awards he received include the Legion of Merit.

The Society of American Military Engineers' Oren Medal, conferred since 1968, is named after Oren.[2][3]