Rear Admiral

Rear Adm. Valery Havard Jr., a retired career naval officer and consultant, died of pneumonia July 11 at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. He was 91 and lived at Broadmead Retirement Community in Cockeysville.Born at Fort Jay on Governors Island off the southern tip of Manhattan, where his father was an Army physician, he was reared in Fairfield, Conn. In 1921, he graduated from Columbia Preparatory School in Washington and was appointed to the Naval Academy, graduating in 1926.On Dec. 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was bombed, resulting in the U.S. entry into World War II, he was serving aboard the destroyer USS Babbitt near Iceland, escorting a convoy to England.

One of Sandy Stosz's favorite childhood memories is of the trips her family took each summer from Ellicott City to her grandparents' home near Cape Cod, and the little rowboat that she and her three brothers were allowed to take out on the Great Bay when they were deemed old enough. "She always loved the water," Stosz's mother, Joy, recalled recently. "Those humble beginnings," as Stosz jokingly called them, led to her pursuing a career in the U.S. Coast Guard and her recent promotion to rear admiral lower half.

Judson Lord Smith, a retired rear admiral and civic leader who received numerous commendations for his military service in World War II, the Korean War and at other times, died Friday of emphysema at St. Joseph Medical Center. He was 83 and lived most of his life in Ruxton. Born in Glyndon, he graduated from McDonogh School in 1935 and from Dickinson College in 1939. He planned to enter law school, but after listening to four German college classmates describe the struggles in Europe, he entered the Naval Reserve instead and graduated in 1941 from an accelerated wartime program at the Naval Academy.

Michelle Howard was 5 years old the first time a classmate called her a name using a racial slur. She ran home crying to her father, an enlisted man in the Air Force and a strict disciplinarian. "My father picked me up and shook me," says Howard. "He shook me and he said, `You get used to it, little girl. You've got to toughen up. That's just the way it is.'" It was not the tender comfort she had sought, but Howard, now the first female Naval Academy graduate to be promoted to rear admiral, would need just that kind of resolve to make it through Annapolis.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate Armed Services Committee will review the Pentagon's decision to keep intact the promotion of a Navy officer who commanded an aircraft carrier that was blamed for a 1996 collision that caused $10 million damage.Committee staff members asked the Navy Department late last week for its reports on the incident involving the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and the cruiser USS Leyte Gulf.The staff members also asked the Navy Department to explain why it chose to retain Rear Adm. Ronald L. Christenson at his current rank, said a spokesman.

One of Sandy Stosz's favorite childhood memories is of the trips her family took each summer from Ellicott City to her grandparents' home near Cape Cod, and the little rowboat that she and her three brothers were allowed to take out on the Great Bay when they were deemed old enough. "She always loved the water," Stosz's mother, Joy, recalled recently. "Those humble beginnings," as Stosz jokingly called them, led to her pursuing a career in the U.S. Coast Guard and her recent promotion to rear admiral lower half.

WASHINGTON -- In the pre-dawn darkness of Oct. 14, 1996, the USS Theodore Roosevelt was maneuvering in the choppy Atlantic waters 100 miles off Cape Hatteras, N.C. The carrier was "backing down" -- reversing -- when it collided with a cruiser, the USS Leyte Gulf, in a thunderous screech of steel that knocked sailors to the decks and caused $10 million in damage.In the Navy, the reverberations of that October night are still being felt.The commander of the carrier, Rear Adm. Ronald L. Christenson, a 1969 Naval Academy graduate, was later judged to be the most culpable for the collision and received a punitive letter of reprimand in November 1996, usually a career-ender.

Frederick Julian Becton, 87, decorated rear admiralFrederick Julian Becton, 87, a retired rear admiral died Monday at his home in Wynnewood, Pa.He was at the center of a dramatic two hours of naval history when the destroyer he commanded survived an attack by Japanese kamikaze planes in 1945 off Okinawa.The 2,200-ton U.S.S. Laffey, guns blazing, battled a relentless onslaught by 22 suicide planes, six of which struck the ship. Two bombs also struck the ship; one jammed the rudder of the Laffey, whose deck was a mass of flames.

The Naval Academy's No. 2 official had his promotion to rear admiral put on hold this week, because of Senate concerns about his role in the investigation of the school's largest cheating scandal.Navy Secretary John Dalton asked the Senate Armed Services Committee to delay considering the promotion of Capt. John B. Padgett, the Naval Academy's commandant of midshipmen, who was among an estimated 30 nominees considered for promotion to rear admiral.Mr. Dalton took the step to make sure the other officers on the list were acted on by the committee, which approved the nominees this week, said Capt.

50 Years Ago* Navy defeated Penn State at Annapolis in football by a score of 55-14, the most points registered by either team in their long football series. -- The Sun, Oct. 8, 1944.* Governor O'Conor announced that so far 22,727 absentee ballots have been received at the State House in Annapolis from Maryland servicemen and women serving in all parts of the world. Some 848 ballots are registered from Anne Arundel County. -- The Sun, Oct. 16, 1944.* Rear Admiral L. D. McCormick of Annapolis was decorated with the Legion of Merit and Capt.

Judson Lord Smith, a retired rear admiral and civic leader who received numerous commendations for his military service in World War II, the Korean War and at other times, died Friday of emphysema at St. Joseph Medical Center. He was 83 and lived most of his life in Ruxton. Born in Glyndon, he graduated from McDonogh School in 1935 and from Dickinson College in 1939. He planned to enter law school, but after listening to four German college classmates describe the struggles in Europe, he entered the Naval Reserve instead and graduated in 1941 from an accelerated wartime program at the Naval Academy.

Retired Navy Rear Adm. Kemp Tolley, who said the White House ordered him to use his ship as a target to help drag the United States into World War II in the hours before the attack on Pearl Harbor, died Saturday of complications of a stroke at his home in Corbett, in Northern Baltimore County. He was 92. Mr. Tolley's command of the Lanikai, then a battered, 27-year-old wooden schooner previously used as a theatrical prop, provided some of the war's more unusual scenes. His 4,000-mile, three-month odyssey was a notable incident in a naval career that stretched from duty on the rivers of China in the 1930s to peacetime in Japan in 1950s.

After moving 14 times in 33 years, retired Coast Guard Rear Adm. Gordon Piche and his wife, Jane, were determined to find the perfect house for their retirement. After all, this would be their first permanent "post" since they were married 35 years ago.For 10 months, the Piches searched for their elusive dream home, only to be disappointed. If the house was right, it seemed that the location was wrong."It became apparent that the location was more important than finding our `dream house,' " Mrs. Piche said.

The story goes: John F. Lehman Jr., President Reagan's Navy secretary, after reading an article about cars that kept swerving as they approached the guard posts at Navy air bases, slapped the magazine down on his aide's desk and asked, "Is this all true?"The article was about Navy pilots removing their leather flight jackets -- which weren't supposed to be worn off base -- while driving toward the base exit. Assured it was true, Lehman said, "Not anymore," and eliminated the jacket restriction.

Vice Adm. Kleber Sandlin Masterson, 89, a battleship gunnery officer in World War II and an ordnance expert who helped build the Navy's arsenal of nuclear missiles, died May 3 at Inova Alexandria Hospital in Alexandria, Va.As a newly promoted rear admiral in 1957, Vice Admiral Masterson commanded the missile division in the Office of Naval Operations and joined a ballistic missiles committee that played a leading role in equipping the Navy's nuclear submarine...

Rear Adm. George William Bauernschmidt Sr., who kept supplies flowing to Allied forces in the Atlantic and Pacific during World War II, died Saturday in his sleep at Ginger Cove Health Care Center in Annapolis. He was 99.The 1922 Naval Academy graduate commanded a submarine, served on board ships and taught at the academy during a military career that ended in 1955.Admiral Bauernschmidt transferred to the Supply Corps in 1935 and, at the outbreak of World War II, was named assistant to the supply officer at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

50 Years Ago* Two television stations, one at Odenton in Anne Arundel County and the other at Havre de Grace, are part of the first multiple-relay television network in the world linking two major cities, Philadelphia and Washington. -- The Sun, May 5, 1945.* Governor O'Conor has signed into law a bill passed by the legislature which will permit dog races -- and betting on them -- in Anne Arundel County. The bill gives the County Commissioners unlimited licensing and regulatory powers. The governor said had he known dog racing was intended, he would have vetoed it. -- The Sun, May 6, 1945.

Vice Adm. Kleber Sandlin Masterson, 89, a battleship gunnery officer in World War II and an ordnance expert who helped build the Navy's arsenal of nuclear missiles, died May 3 at Inova Alexandria Hospital in Alexandria, Va.As a newly promoted rear admiral in 1957, Vice Admiral Masterson commanded the missile division in the Office of Naval Operations and joined a ballistic missiles committee that played a leading role in equipping the Navy's nuclear submarine...

WASHINGTON -- The Senate Armed Services Committee will review the Pentagon's decision to keep intact the promotion of a Navy officer who commanded an aircraft carrier that was blamed for a 1996 collision that caused $10 million damage.Committee staff members asked the Navy Department late last week for its reports on the incident involving the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and the cruiser USS Leyte Gulf.The staff members also asked the Navy Department to explain why it chose to retain Rear Adm. Ronald L. Christenson at his current rank, said a spokesman.

WASHINGTON -- In the pre-dawn darkness of Oct. 14, 1996, the USS Theodore Roosevelt was maneuvering in the choppy Atlantic waters 100 miles off Cape Hatteras, N.C. The carrier was "backing down" -- reversing -- when it collided with a cruiser, the USS Leyte Gulf, in a thunderous screech of steel that knocked sailors to the decks and caused $10 million in damage.In the Navy, the reverberations of that October night are still being felt.The commander of the carrier, Rear Adm. Ronald L. Christenson, a 1969 Naval Academy graduate, was later judged to be the most culpable for the collision and received a punitive letter of reprimand in November 1996, usually a career-ender.