[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 1 (Monday, January 24, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S12]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        TRIBUTE TO LIEUTENANT COMMANDER JOHN DI MENTO, U.S. NAVY

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I take this opportunity to recognize and say 
farewell to an outstanding Naval Officer, Lieutenant Commander John Di 
Mento, upon his departure from my staff. Lieutenant Commander Di Mento 
was selected as a Navy Fellow to work in my office because of his 
professional reputation and his knowledge of the Navy Oceanography 
program and the military presence in my home state. Not a Mississippian 
by birth, he earned the respect of Mississippians during his long 
service in the state from 1990 through 1996, and through his impressive 
display of good judgement when he married the former Chenaey Bourgeois 
of Bay Saint Louis. Together they have added to Mississippi's fame 
through their beautiful daughter, Colby.
  Lieutenant Commander Di Mento entered the United States Naval Academy 
in 1983 and was commissioned as an Ensign upon graduation in 1987. He 
earned a Master's Degree in Oceanography and began his career as a 
Naval Oceanographer as the Executive Officer of Oceanographic Unit 
Three, surveying over 100,000 miles of the ocean floor in a year 
deployed. He returned from sea and reported to the Naval Oceanographic 
Office in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi. He worked extensively in ocean 
modeling and remote sensing, and flew aerial oceanographic surveys with 
Oceanographic Development Squadron Eight, in the process earning his 
Naval Aviation Observer wings. Later assigned as Oceanographer on USS 
Kearsarge, Lieutenant Commander Di Mento qualified as a Surface Warfare 
Officer. He was commended for his performance during Operation Noble 
Obelisk, where he was responsible for the processing, care, and 
movement of over 2,500 refugees rescued by Kearsarge from the civil war 
in Sierra Leone from embarkation through debarkation.
  Ashore, Lieutenant Commander Di Mento served briefly on the staff of 
the Oceanographer of the Navy at the U.S. Naval Observatory. He later 
served two years as Flag Aide and Executive Assistant for Rear Admiral 
Paul Gaffney, II, Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command 
following a year as Flag Aide to his predecessor, Rear Admiral John 
Chubb. His only other tour ashore found him navigating the sometimes 
treacherous waters here on Capitol Hill.
  Lieutenant Commander Di Mento quickly became a valued member of my 
staff where he led several legislative initiatives that enormously 
benefitted the Department of Defense, the Navy, and the State of 
Mississippi. He provided a great deal of research and analysis while 
the Senate initiated broad reform of military pay and benefits. His 
work led to the most significant piece of legislation for service 
members since 1981. The leadership, integrity, and limitless energy 
that defined his naval career served him well in his term as a 
Legislative Fellow.
  Lieutenant Commander Di Mento's many awards and decorations include 
the Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, Navy 
Achievement Medal, and various unit and service awards. Lieutenant 
Commander Di Mento will be missed on the staff, but his return to the 
Naval Service is a benefit to our great Nation. He has great things 
ahead of him. On behalf of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, I 
wish Lieutenant Commander Di Mento, ``Fair Winds and Following Seas.''

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