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Had a bit of a treat today.  As I was walking back from a morning meeting with the boss over on the other side of the Navy yard, I passed by the Naval Historical Foundation offices.  Outside in the #1 parking place was a reserved parking sign that had 4 stars on it with the name ADM Jim Holloway, former CNO and current President Emeritus of the Naval Historical Foundation.  I knew he was a past president and that he still occasionally stopped by, so after many times of walking past those offices, I stuck my head in.  He hadn’t arrived yet, so I asked if I could stop by a bit later on in the morning and pass on my (and my dad’s)  regards.

I didn’t have any history with ADM Holloway.  He was long retired before my time with the Navy started, but my dad, Papa Paisley  certainly did.  Then CAPT Jim Holloway was the third  commanding officer of the first nuclear aircraft carrier (first to take her into combat in SE Asia), USS Enterprise,  back in the mid 1960’s and my Dad was an A-4 pilot onboard with VA-56 and CVW 9.

I stopped by a bit later on that morning and had a great, albeit short chat with the admiral.  At 86, he looks absolutely great.  He remembered the Old Man, even commenting on the photo I brought along of Papa after his last Vietnam mission (below).  The conversation turned on leadership for a few moments, as the Admiral and his executive director had been talking about how many commanding officers and executive officers had been shot down in Vietnam (67, I believe was the number), demonstrating a classic “leading from the front” or by example style of leadership.  Indeed, the officer in the picture of my dad after his last flight was CDR Pete Sherman, the CO of VA-56 at the time, who was shot down and KIA a few weeks later on an Iron Hand mission near Hanoi.

T’was indeed an honor.

15 May, 1967