Blue Ridge (LCC 19) - Naval Cruise Book

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BLUE RIDGE ' S FIRST SS2? k - CHANGE OF COMMAND ' %

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Captain P. H. Speer was born m Greensburg, Pa., in 1928 and is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Stuart W. Speer, pre- sently of Ridgway, Pa. He began his Naval Career in 1946 when he enlisted in the Naval Aviation College program. Following two years at Wisconsin State College, Captain Speer entered flight training in 1948 and was designated a Naval Aviator in Feb- ruary 1950. His first assignment was with VX-3 at the Naval Air Station Atlantic City, N.J. He was subsequently ordered to VF-1 72 and participated in the introduction of the F2H Banshee jet into the Korean War while flying from the USS ESSEX. Captain Speer attended General Line School, Monterey, Ca., in 1953 and then was a flight instructor in the Naval Air Training Command until 1955. He served as Operations Officer with VF-1 1 1 aboard the USS BON HOMME RICH- ARD and as a combat instructor with VF-1 24. He was sub- sequently named Executive Officer and Commanding Officer of VF-21 1 , making two combat tours to Southeast Asia in 1966 and 1967. During his tours, VF-21 1 became the first Navy squadron to down more than five enemy |et aircraft and also won the Naval Air Pacific Combat E for excellence. Captain Speer scored a personal kill of a North Vietnamese MIG aircraft over Hanoi on May 19, 1967. He made two more deploy- ments to Southeast Asia on the staff of Commander Carrier Division Three in 1968 and 1969 prior to reporting to Miramar Air Station, north of San Diego, Ca., for training as a prospective Air Wing Commander. He took command of Attack Carrier Air Wing 1 1 in October 1969 and of Attack Carrier Air Wing 14 on 26 January 1970, making another combat tour of Southeast Asia on the USS CON- STELLATION. Captain Speer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of California. He is married to the former Genevieve B. Nagy of McKeesport, Pa., and they, along with their son Paul, reside in San Diego.

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Commander W. C. Holt, a native of West Palm Beach, Fla., was commissioned in 1958 from tlie Offi- cer Candidate School in Newport, R. I. A graduate of Palm Beach Junior College and Florida State University, his initial service was as Engineering Officer aboard the ice breaker USS BURTON ISLAND. Visiting Antartica once and the Arctic three times, BURTON ISLAND was awarded the Navy Unit Com- mendation during this period for scientifice achieve- ment in the Bellinghausen Sea, Antartica. In 1961 Commander Holt was assigned to the destroyer USS BLUE as Operations Officer and in 1963 became an instructor and scheduling officer at Fleet Training Group, San Diego. From 1 966 to 1 967 he was Executive Officer of the destroyer escort USS PARLE and subsequently served a two-year tour as Surface Operations Officer on the staff of Commander, U.S. Sixth Fleet aboard the cruiser USS LITTLE ROCK, where he was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal. Before joining BLUE RIDGE as Executive Officer, Commander Holt was assigned to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington where he was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal as Manpower Coordinator in the planning of the new NIMITZ class nuclear aircraft carriers and the SSN-688 class fast attack nuclear submarines. Commander Holt is married to the former Georgina Joyce of Everett, Wash. The couple and their two sons reside in San Diego, Ca. UlHiBii HIH