New Commander named

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32635, 17 June 1971, Page 12

New Commander named

Rear-Admiral L. B. McCuddin, a Navy

aviator since 1942 and a holder of the Navy Cross and the Silver Star, has been appointed the seventh commander of the United States Navy Antarctic support force. He will succeed RearAdmiral D. F. Welch whp

commanded the force from June 19, 1969. Admiral Welch has a new assignment in the Pentagon as Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Logistics. No date has been set for the change of command ceremony, which will take place at the Washington Navy Yard where the Navy’s Antarctic command headquarters is located. Admiral McCuddin has commanded Carrier Division

Three, including the nuclearpowered aircraft carrier, En-1 terprise, with the United 1 States Navy’s Seventh Fleet : in the Pacific and South-East i Asia since June, 1970. Admiral McCuddin gradu- : ated from the University of i

Nevada. He was studying law at the University of Arizona when he was appointed an aviation cadet in the United States Naval Reserve in 1941. He was commissioned in 1942. His appoint-

ment as rear-admiral was on August 1, 1968. The Admiral has served

with various fighter squadrons and carrier air groups. Early in 1966, while commanding the aircraft carrier Ranger off the coast of Vietnam, Captain McCuddin (as he then was) earned the Legion of Merit for “his personal dedication to the crew and his attention to the planning and execution of day and night aerial armed reconnaissance and interdiction air strikes” in North Vietnam. Admiral McCuddin has the Distinguished Flying Cross with Gold Star, the Air Medal with 10 Gold Stars, the Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon and the Navy Unit Commendation ribbon with bronze star, as well as 14 service medals that cover service in Asia and the Pacific during World War 11, the Korean war and the Vietnam war.

Admiral McCuddin reg ceived his bachelor of laws i- degree at Georgetown Until versity, Washington, in June, e 1958. He is a member of the e District of Columbia Bar. i- He is married with three children.