Lake City, South Carolina
Memorial Biography
Honoring the Life and Legacy of Lieutenant Colonel John Fleetwood Moody
South Carolina native. Army aviator. Decorated veteran. Author. Father. Grandfather.
This memorial page preserves the documented public record and family remembrance of John Fleetwood Moody — born in Lake City, educated at The Citadel, later awarded graduate degrees, retired from the United States Army as a lieutenant colonel, and remembered for service in Korea and two tours in Vietnam as both a helicopter and fixed-wing pilot.
United States Army
Two Vietnam tours; helicopter and fixed-wing aviation
Published in 2001 under the name John Moody
About the Memorial
A life worth preserving in full, not in fragments
The purpose of this site is straightforward: to present a clear, dignified, and discoverable memorial record for Lieutenant Colonel John Fleetwood Moody. Too many remarkable lives survive online only as scattered references — an obituary here, an alumni notice there, perhaps a bibliographic listing with no context at all. This page is meant to gather those pieces into one disciplined account.
The page is built around the facts most consistently supported by the public memorial record: Moody’s South Carolina origins, his education at The Citadel and later graduate study, his Army aviation service, his reported decorations, his authorship, and his enduring place within the Moody and Poston family lines.
It is therefore both tribute and record: readable enough for family and visitors, but structured carefully enough to function as a reliable public-facing memorial page.
Military and Civic Record
Discipline, education, service, and authorship
South Carolina origins and education
Public memorial records place John Fleetwood Moody’s birth in Lake City, South Carolina, and identify him as a graduate of The Citadel, Class of 1955. Those same records report later graduate study at the University of South Carolina and Francis Marion University.
Army aviation
Moody is consistently described in obituary and memorial materials as a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army who served in Korea and completed two tours in Vietnam as both a helicopter pilot and a fixed-wing pilot.
Decorations and discipline
The public record attributes to him two Bronze Stars and fifteen Air Medals. The same memorial reporting also notes that he held a third-degree black belt in karate, reinforcing a broader pattern of exacting discipline across multiple parts of life.
Family, faith, and community
Memorial materials associate him with Union Presbyterian Church and Friends of the Library and identify him as the father of Maxine Moody Poston and grandfather of Eric Chalmers Poston and Lane Strom Poston.
Featured Book
The Black Bishop
The Black Bishop is the published novel most directly associated with John Fleetwood Moody’s literary legacy. Commercial bibliographic metadata links the book to ISBN 1588985334 / 9781588985330 and places its publication in 2001.
The book matters here for more than display value. It shows that his public life did not end with military retirement. He also entered authorship, shaping history into narrative and leaving behind a work that extends his legacy beyond service records and memorial notices.
That transition — from officer and aviator to published author — is one of the most distinctive features of the record and one of the strongest reasons this page deserves to exist as a standalone memorial destination.
Chronological Overview
A concise timeline of the public record
Born on March 10 in Lake City, South Carolina.
Graduated from The Citadel; alumni memorial materials identify him with the Class of 1955.
Served in the United States Army, later retiring as a lieutenant colonel.
Public memorial reporting places him in Korea and in two tours in Vietnam as a helicopter and fixed-wing pilot.
Earned graduate degrees from the University of South Carolina and Francis Marion University.
Published The Black Bishop, the book most directly associated with his literary legacy.
Died on November 3, leaving a record of service, authorship, family devotion, and South Carolina rootedness.