Restorationof the Colonial Beach Museum Building

Colonel John Biemeck was born in Illinois, but has made his home in Virginia since 1972. His education includes a B.S. degree in business administration, a MBA (Summa Cum Laude) in Industrial Management, and is a graduate of the National War College, Army Command and General Staff College, and the U.S. Army Ordnance, Infantry, Quartermaster, and Airborne schools.
He is a retired career U.S. Army Ordnance Corps Officer who commanded Ordnance units at the company, battalion, and brigade levels. His last command was the 82nd Airborne Division Support Command at Fort Bragg, N.C. He spent two years in Vietnam (1967-1969). His first tour was with the 101st Airborne Division, and he was selected to serve his second tour on General Abrams’ staff (Vietnam Commanding General) at his Headquarters in Saigon. At the time of his retirement he was one of the most decorated Army Officers on active duty in the U.S. Army, having received fifteen metals. His decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, three awards of the Legion of Merit, four awards of the Bronze Star, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal, the Joint Services Commendation Medal, and four awards of the Army Commendation Medal. He was also awarded the Army Staff Identification Badge, Expert Infantry Badge; Senior Parachute Badge and was awarded the Vietnamese Parachute Badge by the South Vietnamese Army.
Following his Army retirement, he was employed by Marriott, the lodging giant, and was the Director of Operations at the International Headquarters complex in Bethesda, Maryland, retiring from Marriott after ten years of service. He served over five years on the Colonial Beach Town Council, with four years as the Vice Mayor. He also served as the second President of the Colonial Beach Historical Society and served as the first Curator of the Museum at Colonial Beach. He was the project manager for the restoration of the Museum Building, doing most of the construction and restoration himself.
He is an expert on all aspects of black powder artillery projectiles, and has published an Encyclopedia on Black Powder Projectiles found in North America, 1759 – 1865. It consists of five volumes, has over 1,700 pages, and is the most comprehensive identification guide to fuses and projectiles that has been written to date. Volume V is the only book that has ever been published on the deactivation of black powder explosive projectiles and prior to this only 15 pages of information was known to exist on this subject. He is a master Black Powder Artificer and has deactivated over 800 black powder explosive projectiles, preserving them for future generations and preventing their destruction.