US Navy Admiral. A highly decorated fighter pilot who became a World War II flying ace, he rose in rank to become the Commander-in-Chief of US Pacific Command. After completing a US Army West Point preparatory school in Hawaii, he received an appointment to the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland in June 1931 and graduated four years later with a commission as an ensign. For the next five years he served sea duty on the battleship USS Maryland and the destroyers USS Maury and USS Craven. In March 1940 he entered flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida and received his aviator wings the following November, and was assigned to Fighter Squadron 3. After the US entered World War II in December 1941, he flew combat missions in the Pacific Theater of Operations during the early stages of the war and was credited with shooting down five enemy aircraft and was awarded the Navy Cross on three separate occasions from February to May 1942, becoming the first US Navy pilot to achieve it. In June 1942 he was assigned to Naval Air Station Anacostia in Washington DC as a VF Project Officer and the following June he became a test pilot at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. In June 1944 he became commanding officer of VF-12 and in March 1945 he served as the air operations officer for the 2nd Carrier Task Force in the Pacific and was present at the Japanese surrender on the deck of the battleship USS Missouri. His post-World War II assignments included tours of the Special Devices Center in Florida (1946 to 1948) and operations officer on the aircraft carrier USS Bairoko (1948 to 1949) and the US Navy Flight Design Branch in Washington DC (1949 to 1951). In June 1951 he became commanding officer of the US Navy's experimental jet fighter squadron VX-III (VX-3) at Atlantic City, New Jersey. In January 1954 he served in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington DC and in January 1956 he commanded the seaplane tender Greenwich Bay. He then served briefly as operations officer for the Commander-in-Chief, US Pacific Fleet and in June 1957 he became the Naval Aide to the Secretary of the Navy in Washington DC. In May 1959 he commanded the aircraft carrier USS Ranger and in June 1960 he was assigned as the Naval Attaché in London, England. From August 1962 until August 1963 he commanded Carrier Division 20 and then served as Assistant Chief of Naval Operations for Development in Washington DC from August 1963 until August 1967. The following month he became Deputy Director of the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska and in July 1969 he became the Director of the National Security Agency at Fort Meade, Maryland. In September 1972 he was promoted to the rank of admiral and became Commander-in-Chief of US Pacific Command at Honolulu, Hawaii and retired in that position in August 1976 with 39 years of continuous military service. Among his military decorations and awards include the Navy Cross (with two gold stars), the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal (with one gold star), the Legion of Merit (with one gold star), the Bronze Star (with combat "V" device), the American Defense Service Medal (with base clasp), the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (with two service stars), the World War II Victory Medal, the Navy Occupation Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal (with one service star), the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Philippine Defense Medal, the Philippine Liberation Medal (with two bronze stars), and the Philippine Independence Medal. After his military retirement, he served on the Board of Directors of various corporations and continued to press for the disarmament of nuclear weapons, a passion he had acquired since observing the destruction of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan in August 1945. He died at the age of 96.