"We remember John as a person of peace," an aunt wrote, recalling the late 1960s when the young man grew a beard and frequently wore a Nehru jacket and a large peace medallion from a chain around his neck. McCullough attended Overbrook High School and worked a vanity of part-time jobs, including bagging groceries at an A and P supermarket and working behind the counter at a Dairy Queen. He enlisted in the Army in September 1969 following his graduation from Overbrook, and was sent to Vietnam in April 1970. The private first class, an engineering equipment specialist, was assigned to Company A of the 69th Engineer Battalion. McCullough died on June 23, 1970, at the age of 19 was survived by his parents, two brothers and four sisters. “John was at peace with himself in what he did . . . This peace which he possessed brought him to a land that did not know peace,” the aunt added. “He brought his peace with him. Maybe, in some way, through his dying, he left his peace there.” Being of Irish descent, a Celtic cross was chosen to mark McCullough's grave. His parents received permission from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to change one of the symbols on the Celtic cross so it would form the peace symbol.