O'Keefe was attending Soule Business College during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
He quickly enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served from 1942–1943.
Then he became a fighter pilot with the U.S. Marine Corps from 1943–1945.
He was a 1st Lt.
with the VMF-323 Marine Squadron, known as the "Death Rattlers".
He gained recognition for his contributions to an dogfight in Okinawa on April 22, 1945 in which he shot down five Japanese Kamikazes, becoming an ace in a single day. (
This action was chronicled on the Dogfights TV series, the episode: Supersonic.)

On April 28 Lt.
O'Keefe shot down another two enemy planes bringing his total victories to seven which made him the highest scoring ace in Okinawa at the time.
O'Keefe was attending Soule Business College during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He quickly enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served from 1942–1943. Then he became a fighter pilot with the U.S. Marine Corps from 1943–1945. He was a 1st Lt. with the VMF-323 Marine Squadron, known as the "Death Rattlers". He gained recognition for his contributions to an dogfight in Okinawa on April 22, 1945 in which he shot down five Japanese Kamikazes, becoming an ace in a single day. (This action was chronicled on the Dogfights TV series, the episode: Supersonic.)
On April 28 Lt. O'Keefe shot down another two enemy planes bringing his total victories to seven which made him the highest scoring ace in Okinawa at the time.
Jeremiah Joseph O'Keefe