John Kuchinski was born in San Francisco, CA on 29 November 1944. He attended Mt. Diablo High School and Diablo Valley College in Concord, CA and entered the Navy on 12 September 1964. After completing Naval Flight Training in Pensacola, FL, Meridian, MS and Beeville, TX he received his Naval Aviator Wings on 9 June 1966.

In January 1967, after completing A4 Skyhawk training at Naval Air Station (NAS) Lemoore, CA , ENS Kuchinski deployed to Southeast Asia with ATTACK SQUADRON 94 as part of Carrier Air Wing 5 on the USS HANCOCK (CVA-19). He flew his first combat mission over North Vietnam on 5 February 1967. From February to July 1967 he flew a total 90 day and night combat missions off the HANCOCK including many large Alpha Strikes attacking targets in the Haiphong and Hanoi area.

In January 1968, he again deployed to Vietnam with ATTACK SQUADRON 94, this time aboard the USS BON HOMME RICHARD (CVA-31). The "Bonnie Dick" arrived on Yankee Station in late January 1968 just as North Vietnamese launched the Tet Offensive and began a siege of the American Fire Base at Khe Sahn, South Vietnam. LTJG Kuchinski flew 31 combat missions at Khe Sahn escorting aircraft delivering men and material under heavy fire as well as attacking North Vietnamese forces in the hills surrounding Khe Sahn.

After the North Vietnamese withdrawal in April 1968, LTJG Kuchinski resumed flying combat missions over North Vietnam amassing a total of 226 combat missions from February 1967 to September 1968. Luckily he was never shot down, but three times after being hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire, was able to land his crippled A-4 back aboard the carrier -- once at night and twice during the day.

During this time John met his wife Sheila while on an rest & rehabilitation (R&R) port visit to Singapore. Sheila was then Capt Sheila Sparrow, a nurse with The Royal Army Nurse Corps, assigned to the British Military Hospital in Singapore. They were married on 21 June 1969 at Corpus Christi, TX and later had three children Anne Elizabeth, Jennette Louise, and Thomas Joseph.

John went on to become a Navy jet Flight Instructor in VT-22 in Kingsville, TX and VT-19 in Meridian, MS. In 1974 John received a Bachelor Degree in Business from Georgia State University. The Navy then sent him to the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA where he received a Master of Science Degree in 1978.

He also had tours of duty in VA-205 flying the A-7B and VFP-306, flying the RF-8G Crusader aircraft. His final operational tour was as Commanding Officer of NAS South Weymouth, MA from 1989-1991. John also had staff tours with the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, the Secretary of the Navy staff, and the Commander Naval Reserve Force. CAPT John Kuchinski retired from the Navy in 1996 with over 4,000 flight hours and 30 years of commissioned service.

After retirement from the navy, John worked for The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab as a Program Manager supporting the Office of Naval Research in various science and technology projects for the Navy and Marine Corps.