Bob Buchanan

Retired Navy Lieutenant Commander and U.S. Government Senior Executive Service Member Bob Buchanan, of beautiful downtown Hartwood, VA passed away on the 9th of September.  He was born in Wheeling, WV in 1949 while his family lived in Bethany, WV.

Bob grew up and went to school in Bethany, New Castle, PA., Sunnyvale, CA., Youngstown, OH and Edinburg, PA.  He joined the Navy at 17 after graduating high school, went to boot camp at Great Lakes, Ill and was designated a radioman.  He then went to radioman school in Bainbridge, MD., high speed Morse code school in Newport, R.I., and SERE school in Little Creek, VA before receiving orders to serve in Vietnam, where he served in country with MSTS for 13 months.

Bob left the Navy and was recruited by the CIA and after a move to London, England his oldest son, Bob Jr. was born.  He then attended a communications school in Virginia before being assigned to Bangkok, Thailand, where his second son, Scott, was born.  After a few years he left the CIA and returned stateside to New Castle, PA where he worked for the B&O Railroad, a battery manufacturer, and for a company installing some of the first cable TV systems in the U.S. 

Bob, once again, returned to government service and moved to northern VA.  During this time, he worked for the Dept. of Energy, the U.S. Secret Service and the Bureau of ATF.  He then received a special request for foreign duty and spent a few years in the Middle East working for the Sultan of Oman.  Once back in the U.S., he settled in the Fredericksburg, VA area and while working for Naval Intelligence his third son, Eric, was born.  After that he worked for the Office of Personnel Management, Naval Security Group and the Navy’s COMSEC Material Systems Command before returning to the Secret Service, where he retired as the Chief Information Officer and Chief Information Resources Management Division, completing 34 years of Government service. 

During his time at the ATF, Bob joined the Naval Reserves and began pursuing higher education and earned an Associate’s Degree in Business Management from Northern VA Comm. College, a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Studies from Mary Washington College and then a Masters in Business Administration and Information Systems from Strayer University, all at night!   He entered the reserves as an RM3 and over the years rose through the ranks.  He went from being a radioman to a Chief Petty Officer and received his commission as an Ensign while assigned to CINCIBERLANT (a NATO Command).  He was subsequently assigned to Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare (MIUW), Navy Command Center, Naval Beach Group Two, Mobile Mine Assembly Group, CINCIBERLANT and Navy Telecommunications Command, finally attaining the rank of Lieutenant Commander, and serving as an OIC, Executive Officer, and twice as a Commanding Officer before retiring after 26 years of service and receiving numerous awards and medals.

Bob lived and traveled all over the world and enjoyed it all!  A poor country boy from West Virginia who made it in the big city!   His greatest joy was his family, especially his grandkids!  He is survived by his three sons, Bob Jr. (and wife Linda), with granddaughters Katie and Ruby Elizabeth (Beth)- deceased, Scott (and wife Lesley), with grandsons Connor and Collin, Eric (and wife Katrina), with grandkids Tristan and Alyssa and Ulrich and Wednesday Shiflett. – All members of Clan Buchanan.

Go Navy-Beat Army!

Bob will be buried at Quantico National Cemetery.  A graveside service is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on Monday, September 27.

In lieu of flowers please make a donation in Bobs name to the Gary Sinise Foundation.