[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15629]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  RECOGNIZING THE DEDICATION AND HONORABLE SERVICE OF CAPTAIN ROBERT 
                     ``BOB'' RASMUSSEN, USN (RET.)

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JEFF MILLER

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 12, 2014

  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize retired Navy 
Captain Robert ``Bob'' Rasmussen for his lifetime of honorable service 
and dedication to our great Nation on the occasion of his retirement as 
Director of the National Naval Aviation Museum aboard Naval Air Station 
Pensacola.
  A native of Sacramento, California, Bob was born on May 26, 1930, and 
entered the Navy through the Naval Aviation Cadet Program in 1951. He 
excelled in flight training school at NAS Whiting Field and NAS 
Pensacola, both located in Northwest Florida, and was assigned to a 
fighter squadron in San Diego, California, where he deployed on 
multiple occasions to the Western Pacific aboard the carrier USS 
Philippine Sea. In 1956, he was selected to join the elite Navy Flight 
Demonstration Team, the Blue Angels. For three years, he awed and 
inspired millions of Americans flying flight demonstrations as the 
right wing pilot and number four slot. Bob continued his tours at sea 
in Fighter Squadron 33 aboard the USS Intrepid and as a Flag Lieutenant 
to Deputy Commander Atlantic Fleet before completing the Navy 
Postgraduate School program in Monterey, California. In 1966, he was 
assigned to Fighter Squadron 111 aboard the USS Oriskany, where he 
completed two combat tours in Vietnam and served as first Executive 
Officer and then Commanding Officer. Before returning to combat in 
Vietnam as the prospective Air Wing SIXTEEN Commander, subsequently 
selected for Captain and assigned as Chief of Staff and Operations 
Officer of Carrier Division SEVEN and then as Commanding Officer of the 
ammunition ship USS Mount Hood, Bob completed a tour in our Nation's 
capital region.
  After the end of the war, he served as Commanding Officer of 
Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Puerto Rico before later returning to 
Washington to command the Aviation Officer Distribution Division of the 
Bureau of Naval Personnel. Following three decades of service as one of 
the finest Naval aviators in history, recording 650 carrier traps and 
with more than 5,000 flight hours logged, as many servicemembers do, 
Bob found his way back to Pensacola where he completed his Naval 
service in 1983 as the Commanding Officer of the Naval Aviation Schools 
Command. Throughout his prestigious career, he received many awards, 
including three Legions of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and 
the Bronze Star.
  Bob's love for aviation, however, remained, and his artistic prowess 
proved too strong, as he went on to serve as the Naval Aviation Museum 
Foundation Director of Development for four years before becoming 
Director of the National Naval Aviation Museum in 1987. During his 
tenure there, he produced hundreds of naval aviation watercolor pieces 
and several bronze sculpture works for the Museum, the Foundation, and 
several other historic venues, earning him the R.G. Smith Award for 
excellence in naval aviation art. As a direct result of his efforts, 
the Naval Aviation Museum more than tripled in size and remains the 
most successful Naval museum in the country as close to one million 
people visit and enjoy the museum each year.
  My wife Vicki and I join Northwest Florida--and a grateful Nation--in 
thanking Captain Bob Rasmussen for his more than six decades of 
admirable military and public service and wish him all the best as he 
takes off in his retirement alongside his wife, Phyllis; their 
children, Kathryn and Eric; and grandchildren, Christopher, Ashton, 
Emily Page, Madison, Avery, and Jack.

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