[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 143 (Wednesday, October 5, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 5, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
               IN MEMORIAM: CAPT. HARRY SEAGROVE SELLERS

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to one of the 
outstanding citizens of my State, Capt. Harry Seagrove Sellers, who 
recently passed away at his Arlington home after a long and valiant 
battle against cancer. Captain Sellers was a superior naval officer who 
served in World War II, the Korean war and in Vietnam, and was also a 
prominent leader in the local community. His contributions to his 
country and to his community deserve the highest and most enduring 
praise.
  Captain Sellers was born in Glendora, in 1924. He earned a bachelors 
degree in mathematics at the University of California at Los Angeles. 
After the outbreak of the Second World War, he entered the Aviation 
Cadet Program and earned his navy wings of gold, becoming a skilled 
pilot. Captain Sellers was assigned to a newly formed night torpedo 
squadron. Later, as 1 of 5 pilots in Project Cadillac, he performed the 
original flight test of high powered airborne radar against captured 
German snorkel submarines. During these tests, he alternated between 
days in the cockpit and days as a crew member of the German sub.
  During the Korean war he served on the U.S.S. Valley Forge and in 
Composite Squadron 35. In 1954, he graduated from the U.S. Naval 
Postgraduate School with a masters of science in nuclear physics. His 
thesis on solid state physics and radiation effects was later presented 
to the American Physics Society.
  From 1956 to 1958, Captain Sellers was assigned as a project officer 
to China Lake, where he worked in a program experimenting with nuclear 
propulsion for aircraft. There, Sellers also worked as a test pilot in 
jet fighters testing delivery systems for nuclear weapons on naval 
aircraft.
  His next assignment was to the Naval War College in Rhode Island 
after which this rising officer became the commanding officer of a jet 
attack squadron assigned to the U.S.S. Constellation on her maiden 
deployment to the western Pacific.
  During 1965, Captain Sellers was assigned as the navigator of the 
U.S.S. Coral Sea and had the opportunity to serve aboard this well-
known ship as it participated in a period of intense combat operations. 
It was during this tour that the United States began the air war 
against Vietnam, and the U.S.S. Coral Sea served as the launch site for 
these aircraft. Sellers' management skills during this period of 
intense combat operations insured a rapid and effective response for 
U.S. forces operating from the U.S.S. Coral Sea. His outstanding 
performance earned him the Navy Commendation Medal.

  From 1966 to 1968, Captain Sellers worked as a Navy representative in 
the Strategic Plans and Policy Division of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 
There, Sellers was commended for his dynamic leadership, diligence, and 
foresight and for his efforts which greatly enhanced the war-planning 
effectiveness of U.S. Armed Forces and the security of our Nation. For 
his distinguished performance, Captain Sellers was awarded the Legion 
of Merit.
  Following his tour in the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Captain Sellers 
returned to Vietnam in October 1968 as commanding officer of the U.S.S. 
Wrangel, an ammunition ship operating in the Gulf of Tonkin. During 
combat operations, Captain Sellers displayed exceptional leadership 
qualities while directing his ship in providing mobile logistic support 
to combat units. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his 
meritorious wartime service during this period.
  In 1969, he took command of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Franklin D. 
Roosevelt, which deployed to the Mediterranean as the flagship of the 
U.S. Sixth Fleet. Captain Sellers was responsible for the exceptional 
performance of the ship as a member of Task Force Sixty during her 
first deployment. Captain Sellers' exemplary guidance and direction 
ensured the maintenance of an ever-increasing level of readiness in 
both the ship and the air wing.
  From September 1971 to June 1972, Captain Sellers served as the 
program manager for the Sea Control Ship System Operations. He was 
instrumental in establishing the Sea Control Ship System as a viable 
program of great potential value to the Navy of the future. For his 
distinguished service, Captain Sellers was once again awarded the 
Legion of Merit with gold star. After this final tour on the staff of 
the Chief of Naval Operations, he retired in 1972 with a wartime 
mobilization role as a convoy commodore.
  Captain Sellers not only distinguished himself as a superior military 
officer, he also distinguished himself as a successful entrepreneur. In 
1974, Harry Sellers formed the U-Store Co. to build and operate self-
service storage facilities, then a new concept in real estate 
development. As owner and chief executive officer, he designed and 
built their first facility in Daytona Beach, FL. The immediate success 
and profitability facilitated nine more projects now totaling over 
5,000 rental spaces and 420,000 square feet of floor space expanding 
into four States.
  Captain Sellers was a man of extraordinary talent and he used those 
talents in serving his community. He was a member of the Masonic Order, 
the Scottish Rite and the Shrine. While on active duty in the Navy, he 
was a member of the Naval Institute and the Society of Experimental 
Test Pilots. On his post-Navy career, he served two terms on the board 
of directors and one term as president of the Self-Service Storage 
Association, southeast region; and also served for 15 years as the 
national treasurer of the American Defense Preparedness Association.
  Captain Sellers was a deeply religious man who was very involved in 
his church and community. A lifelong Methodist, Harry Sellers held 
leadership positions in several churches across the country. A talented 
musician, he was active in church music programs where he contributed 
as a pianist and organist. He also composed and published original 
music.
  Captain Sellers was also an avid sportsman with a love for skiing, 
scuba diving, and sailing. Following a distinguished naval career of 30 
years, Captain Sellers fulfilled a lifelong dream as he and his wife 
bought a sailboat and spent most of a year sailing the Caribbean.
  Captain Sellers will be remembered for his energy, discipline, 
dedication, and humility combined with his great love for God and 
church. He was a loyal and loving husband, father, patriot, and 
Christian of the first rank. He will not only be cherished and 
remembered by his wife, Helen Heald Sellers of 48 years, their two 
sons. Darrow and Richard, and his grandchildren, but he will also be 
remembered and honored as a distinguished career naval officer and an 
outstanding public citizen by all who knew him.

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