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Joseph F. Keenan was born in Boston, Massachusetts on March 4, 1933. He was the son of the late Thomas F. Keenan and the late Catherine (Colerick) Keenan. Joseph’s mother died when he was very young, and his father later married the late Claire (Cavanaugh) Keenan who raised him to adulthood. Joseph grew up in the Dorchester section of Boston, attended the Boston Public Schools, and graduated from Christopher Columbus Catholic High School in 1951. He enlisted in the United States Navy in June, 1951. His duty stations include the Naval Training Center, Newport, RI. Naval Hospital Corps School. Naval Hospital, Charleston, SC (11/52). Field Medical Service School, Camp Pendleton, CA (Class 54 -1/53). Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, Korea. Joseph was killed in action the morning of March 27, 1953 in the area of the Reno Outpost in Western Korea. Joseph was nominated for the Congressional Medal Of Honor at the time but the nomination was lost. On May 14th, 1999, General Charles C. Krulak, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, presented members of the Keenan family, the Navy Cross, posthumously awarded to Joseph F. Keenan, HM3.

Thomas F. Keenan, an elevator mechanic by trade, had nine children that survived to adulthood. Thomas, Paul, Marie, Joseph and Richard, by his first marriage and Michael, James, Anne and Ralph by his second. Thomas the father, passed away at the age of fifty-four in 1959 and Claire, a homemaker, passed away in 1992. Thomas J.(now deceased), the oldest, was born in 1925 while Ralph, the youngest, was born in 1948. Because of this age gap and the fact that the older boys were away from the family serving in World War II, there is not a great deal of information as to Joe’s activities growing up. Brother Paul recalls that he was quite an athlete, a great swimmer and active in most sports. He could tear a telephone directory apart with ease. Brother Richard, three years his junior, recalls watching a pickup football game that Joe was playing in when he was about sixteen. A fight broke out, and every time Joe knocked his opponent down, Richie would give him a kick. On the way home, Joe lectured him that it was un-sportsman like and not an appropriate thing to do. Richard also recalls how Joe, on his first leave, took him to a movie in downtown Boston. He was so proud to be with his big brother, the sailor. Michael, six years his junior, recalls watching Joe play ball, and how Joe took him to try his first pair of ice skates. Joe was a true extrovert. He had a girlfriend, Ann, and a group of friends that included Jimmy McCaron, Tom White, Jack Kent, and others. He carried that exuberant attitude into the Navy as attested to by Medal of Honor recipient, HM3 William Charette, who attended Hospital Corps School with him and marines Dan Holl and Floyd Caton who served with him in Korea. In his affidavit, Joseph W. Dailey, who went on to become the Fifth Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, stated, “Prior to the battle, I had come to know Joe as a highly energetic hospital corpsman with quite a lot of personal initiative.”