[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.
____________________