[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 35 (Tuesday, March 18, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E496]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO COL. RICHARD DIXON

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EVA M. CLAYTON

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 18, 1997

  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mrs. Speaker, I rise today to bring to your attention 
the outstanding public service on one of the country's top military 
men, Col. Richard D.S. Dixon III, the Chief Judge of the U.S. Air Force 
Court of Military Appeals. On April 1, 1997, Colonel Dixon will be 
retiring after 30 years of especially distinguished service.
  Colonel Dixon, who is a native of Waltonsburg, NC, received his 
undergraduate degree from Duke University and his law decree from the 
University of North Carolina. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in May 
1966. After completing a year of enlisted service, he was designated a 
judge advocate in April 1967, and commissioned as a first lieutenant. 
After tours of duty at Niagara Falls International Airport in New York 
and Torrejon Air Base in Spain, he was selected to attend the 
University of Michigan as a graduate student, where he was awarded a 
master of laws in international law in 1974. The Air Force took 
advantage of his expertise by assigning him to the international law 
division in Washington, during which he was selected to attend the 
public international law course at the Hague Academy of International 
Law in the Netherlands.
  His subsequent tours of duty were as staff judge advocate at 
Charleston AFB, SC; as a member of the legal staff for the Commander-
in-Chief, Pacific Command, at Camp Smith, Hawaii; and as staff judge 
advocate at Langley AFB, VA.
  In 1985, recognizing Colonel Dixon's diverse areas of expertise, the 
Air Force assigned him once again to Washington, DC, where he served in 
four divisions. As Chief, Military Justice Division, he was a member of 
the Department of Defense Joint Services Committee on Military Justice, 
during which he proposed and drafted legislative changes to the Uniform 
Code of Military Justice and the Manual for Courts-Martial. He also 
served as the liaison between the Judge Advocate General and the 
Criminal Justice Section of the American Bar Association. Next, he was 
again assigned to the international law division--this time as the 
Chief--from 1987 until 1989. Colonel Dixon next served as Chief of 
Defense Services Division, managing the approximately 150 Air Force 
defense attorneys worldwide, and a dozen appellate defense counsel. 
Because of his vast experience in military justice and his impeccable 
judicial temperament, he was selected in 1991 to serve as the Chief 
Judge of the nine-member Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals. He was 
sworn in as Chief Judge on March 2, 1992.
  Colonel Dixon's military decorations include the Defense Meritorious 
Service Medal and the Air Force Meritorious Service Medal with three 
oak leaf clusters.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that you join me, our colleagues, and Colonel 
Dixon's many friends, in saluting this distinguished officer's many 
years of selfless service to the United States of America. I now our 
Nation, his wife Fran, his son Richard and daughter Karen, are 
extremely proud of his accomplishments. It is fitting that we pay 
tribute to him today.

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