Great Patriot & Friend Passes
Over the Independence Day weekend, the United States lost one of its great patriots, Jack Crawford Taylor of St. Louis, Missouri.
History looks much different when it is playing out in real time from the way it looks later, when the outcome is already known. When Jack flew F6F Hellcats in World War II in the Pacific, the outcome was far from certain, and the stakes were unquestionably high. He participated in a scale of war the likes of which we hopefully will never see again. The young people who serve today stand on the shoulders of giants who went before them. They stand on Jack’s shoulders, and all Americans owe him a debt of gratitude for the freedoms we all enjoy.
Jack credited the Navy with turning him into a man. Having flown missions off the aircraft carriers USS Essex (CV-9) and Enterprise (CV-6), he named his company Enterprise Rental Cars and imbued it with Navy principles. Throughout history, the truly great leaders combined great character, vision, innovation, and entrepreneurial behavior. They knew how to treat people with respect and inspire them to do well. Jack Taylor embodied all these qualities. He leaves an amazing legacy—for the country, for his Navy, for Enterprise, for the city of St. Louis, and for countless philanthropic causes.
Student-Sponsored Memberships Work on All Levels
The Naval Institute’s Sponsored Student Member Program continues to grow for the fourth year.
Because of the continued generosity of donors, we currently have more than 9,000 U.S. Naval Academy and NROTC midshipmen and Coast Guard Academy cadets as members of the Naval Institute. This is a 1,500 student-member increase over this time last year.
The Sponsored Student Program exposes young future naval officers to their professional forum and encourages them to participate by reading and writing about the profession. The professional development of our future naval leaders is a critical element of the Institute’s mission.
This summer, the Naval Academy included the Naval Institute headquarters at Beach Hall on the orientation tour for the midshipmen of the Class of 2020. By the end of this month, more than 1,000 plebes will visit and learn about the many resources the Naval Institute has to offer.
We recently have begun to expand this program to include naval service schools and academies. For example, to help us deliver on a strategic objective to better engage and serve foreign naval professionals two members are sponsoring the international naval students attending the Naval War College.
If you are interested in sponsoring memberships for midshipmen at an NROTC unit or Naval Academy company or cadets at the Coast Guard Academy, or some other school, contact me at [email protected].
Maritime Security Dialogue Continues To Deliver
Our series, created with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), continues to deliver quality content. We featured two programs in June—with Commandant of the Coast Guard Admiral Paul Zukunft and Commander of Fleet Forces Command Admiral Philip Davidson. In July, we sponsored high-level discussions on the “Future of the Submarine Warfare” and “Naval Innovation & Capabilities.” All the programs can be viewed at our website: www.usni.org/events.
On 9 August, Commandant of the Marine Corps Robert B. Neller will join us for a discussion of the issues he and the Corps are addressing. If you have not yet had the opportunity to hear directly from General Neller, I encourage you to do so. This officer defines naval professionalism in action and deed.
This series is made possible by Lockheed Martin and Huntington Ingalls Industries.
Peter H. Daly, VADM, USN (Ret.)
Life Member and Member since 1978