Captain Alton Barger Grimes 28 May 1964 - 10 May 1965 Graduated from the Naval Academy in 1942 Retired with the rank of unknown Captain Grimes was born May 18, 1918 in Whitfield, AL and received his commission as an ensign in the U.S. Navy from the Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD in 1941. After his midshipman days, Captain Grimes studied radio engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology until May of 1942 and then went aboard the Destroyer USS Strong (DD-758) to serve as Gunnery and CIC Officer. Logically, with this recent and practical experience at sea, his next assignment was to the Destroyer Training Command School as in instructor in underway gunnery. Captain Grimes' classroom perspective changed from that of teacher to student when in 1944 he was ordered to flight training and received his "wings" designating him a Naval Aviator in March of 1945. The Captain has since served on the staff of Commander Sixth Fleet, in VAH-5, Heavy Attack Wings One and Two, as Executive Officer of VF-43 and Air Development Squadron Five, and as Commanding Officer of VAH-6. From August 1958 through June 1959 he studied naval warfare at the Naval War College and then reported to USS Ranger (CVA-61)as Operations Officer where he served until February 1961 when he went to the National Policy Section of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Then, in March of 1963, he left Washington to assume command of the Stores Ship USS Pictor (AF-54) until May of 1964 when he became the eighth commanding officer of USS Ranger (CVA-61) – the eighth ship to bear that name. During the Captain's nearly twenty-four years in the Navy he has seen action in Casablanca and the Solomons Campaign during WW II and, in addition to several campaign and service medals, he holds the Bronze Star with a Combat "V". Captain Grimes and his wife, Virginia, have three children, Alton, Jr., Nancy, and William.