He is best known as the first commanding officer of the USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67), known then as CVA-67 in her original designation as a fixed wing attack carrier.

He then attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, while waiting to become old enough for an appointment to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

He then served with Bombing-Fighting Squadron Eighty-Two, before being sent back to Annapolis, Maryland for his postgraduate education in aeronautical engineering.

After further instruction with the Fleet All Weather Training Unit of the Atlantic, from June 1951 until January 1952, he served with Experimental Squadron Three.

Afterwards, he was assigned to the Department of the Navy in Washington, DC, in the Armament Division of the Bureau of Aeronautics.

In October 1967, he was named as the Prospective Commanding Officer of the attack aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CVA-67), which was being built at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Virginia.

He was a featured guest and speaker at many CV-67 reunions, and a staunch supporter of the efforts to preserve the CV-67 as a museum.