[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 135 (Thursday, October 1, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11292-S11293]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            TRIBUTE TO COMMANDER LILIA L. RAMIRZ, U.S. NAVY

 Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, I welcome this opportunity to pay 
tribute to Commander Lilia L. Ramirez, U.S. Navy, who is retiring after 
eighteen years of distinguished service to this nation. She stands out 
as a pioneer, a leader and an outstanding role model for young people 
in uniform.
  Lilia's United States Navy career is testament to a true American 
success story. She was born in Bogota, Columbia and emigrated to the 
U.S. when she was just five years old. Her parents, Alvaro and Ana 
Ramirez fled the violence in the Columbian countryside in the early 
1960's in search if a new life of security and promise for their 
children in America. With little more than an optimistic spirit. Al and 
Ana settled in Bayshore, New York where they went on to raise five 
extraordinary citizens. Through hard work, determination and a deep 
commitment to each other the Ramirez family actualized their dreams of 
America.
  The eldest of five children, Lilia spoke only Spanish when he arrived 
in New York as a five year old. Yet Lilia excelled throughout her 
public education career, graduating with distinction from Brentwood 
high School and

[[Page S11293]]

accepting an appointment to the U.S. Navel Academy as a member of the 
class of 1981. She was a member of Annapolis' second coeduation class.
  As a new Ensign, Lilia sailed for the Navel Communications Area 
Master Station Western Pacific in Guam, the first of three overseas 
assignments. While in Guam, Lilia was deployed to the Indian Ocean 
abroad the submarine U.S.S. Proteus, with only a handful of women. 
After crossing the Equator, she was proudly initiated as a Trusty Shell 
back in a time-honored sea faring ceremony.
  European assignments followed and, while stationed in England as a 
Navy-Air Force Liasion Officer at RAF Mildenhall, Lilia and two other 
Annapolis classmates saved the life of an elderly Briton. During their 
evening of liberty, they discovered the Briton who had collapsed from a 
heart attack. Next, Lilia served at the U.S. European Command in 
Stuttgart, Germany as the Officer-in Charge of the Navy-Marine Corps 
Elements at the headquarters' manpower and personnel directorate. While 
in Stuttgart, she provided crucial after-action reporting and personnel 
support in the wake of a terrorist murder of our Navel Attache in 
Greece and the U.S. Marine Barracks bombing in Beirut.
  After five years, Lilia returned to the Washington D.C. area to serve 
in several assignments, including: the Navy Telecommunications Center 
at Crystal City, which was the Navy's largest message center; the 
Navy's Bureau of Personnel, where she was personally involved in 
assigning a record number of women officers to pursue advanced 
technical degrees at the Naval Postgraduate School; the Joint Chief of 
Staff's Command, Control and Communications Systems Directorate. While 
on the Joint Staff, Lilia coordinated the installation of command and 
control systems in the field offices of Customs, DEA and the North 
American Air Defense Command as part of our national anti-drug policy.
  In 1990, Lilia was assigned as Officer-in-Charge of the Personnel 
Support Detachment at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, in the State of 
Washington. In this tour, she was responsible for the pay, travel and 
career advancements matters of 8,000 service members and their 
families. Lilia returned to the Washington, D.C. area again in 1992, 
where she served as the base-commander of the Navel Communications Unit 
Chetenham, a 230-acre facility in rural Maryland. At Cheltenham, 300 
personnel and 19 tenant commands where under her jurisdiction. She also 
environmentally protected the wetlands at her base and hosted the local 
Boy Scout Troop.
  In 1994, Lilia began a tour in the Secretary of the Navy's Office of 
Legislative Affairs. Lilia was responsible for representing the 
command, control, communications and tactical intelligence programs to 
the defense and intelligence committees of both the House and Senate. 
In addition to numerous informational visits to the Naval 
communications and intelligence facilities throughout the United 
States, Europe and Japan, Lilia escorted Congressional delegations to 
the refugee camps in Guantanomo Bay, Cuba and later to the national 
elections in Nicaragua. In 1997, as a member of the team from the U.S. 
Naval Academy, she visited Peru to advise the Peruvian Navy on 
integrating women into their naval academy.
  As the first U.S. Naval woman to attend the Inter-American Defense 
College, Lilia again helped blaze a trail for all women. Named as the 
ambassador of the U.S. Navy, she combined her native Spanish fluency 
and experience in nation security affairs to impress her Latin American 
counterparts. She forged lasting relationships with key civilian and 
military leaders of Latin America and left them with enduring, positive 
memories of women as military professionals.
  Lilia's personal decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service 
Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Joint Service Commendation 
Medal and the Navy Commendation Medal (three awards).
  The United States, as a nation, owes a great debt of gratitude to 
Lilia Ramirez whose example will inspire women, Hispanics and all 
Americans seeking public service and whose work will have a lasting 
impact on our armed forces for years to come. While we will miss her 
distinguished career in uniform, we will no doubt continue to enjoy her 
commitment to her community and Nation. I wish to recognize her entire 
family, including her father Alvaro, her mother Ana (whom we lost this 
year to cancer), her brothers Michael and Henry and her sisters Angela 
and Ana Tulita who are all great American success stories of their own 
right. Best wishes to Lilia, her husband Randall Lovdahl (Commander, 
U.S. Navy) and her children Bianca and Beau as they mark this special 
milestone.

                          ____________________