Reminiscences of Vice Adm. Charles S. Minter Jr., USN (Ret.), vol. I

Designated as naval aviator in 1941, Admiral Minter served as a bomber pilot in antisubmarine patrols and convoy coverage flights in the North Atlantic. Later was XO of patrol squadron in Trinidad and XO of Headquarters Squadron Nine at Quonset Point, Rhode Island. In 1944 was assistant air officer in the USS Randolph (CV-15) when saw action in raids on Tokyo and in the Iwo Jima and Okinawa campaigns. After serving as assistant director for Tactical Test at Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, he assumed command of Patrol Squadron 28 which engaged in reconnaissance missions and antisubmarine patrols against Korean forces. He was CO of the USS Albemarle (AV-5), in 1958. Volume I concludes with his duty as Assistant Chief of Staff for Readiness to Commander Naval Air Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. Volume II picks up Admiral Minter’s career in 1961 when he was selected to be Commandant of Midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy, and then Superintendent in 1964. These were years when compulsory chapel attendance was challenged and a new curriculum implemented to allow each student to select a major. In 1965 he was assigned Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff for Plans and Policy, Supreme Allied Commander Europe. In 1967 he assumed the Command of Carrier Division Sixteen, contributing to improved antisubmarine warfare capabilities of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. He then became Commander Fleet Air Wings Pacific, with additional duty as Commander Antisubmarine Warfare Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet. His last assignment before retirement in 1974 was Deputy Chairman of the NATO Committee in the Navy Department.