FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, May 29, 1998
Contact: Chief Warrant Officer Ron Mench
Tel.: (202) 267-0929
CG 12-98
New Commandant Takes Position at Coast Guard
U.S. Coast Guard Admiral James M. Loy became the service’s 21st commandant today during a change of command ceremony at Fort McNair.
He relieved Admiral Robert E. Kramek, who is retiring after more than 37 years of service. Loy also assumes Kramek’s role as U.S. Interdiction Coordinator in which he advises General Barry McCaffery director, Office of National Drug Control Policy, and the President on the adequacy and employment of U.S. interdiction resources and coordinates all U.S. interdiction activities in the Western Hemisphere.
"Admiral Kramek has shown us that the bridge to the 21st century cannot be built without our attention to the sea," said President Clinton. "America has truly benefited from his commitment, his leadership and his innovation."
"Admiral Kramek has put excellence center stage, and has made certain the Coast Guard has the resources and the environment to do its job. Under his leadership, the Coast Guard has saved 5,000 lives a year and $4 billion in property," said Secretary Slater. "And in Admiral Loy, we are turning over the helm to a man who as the 21st commandant is ready to take on the challenges of the 21st century. I look forward to working with him in the years to come."
During his four years as commandant, Admiral Kramek’s strategic vision for the Coast Guard has resulted in a streamlined, quality organization that has achieved the reputation as "the premiere maritime service" of the world. Under Admiral Kramek’s leadership, Coast Guard men and women responded to both natural and manmade disasters, enforced America’s laws, kept the nation’s waterways clean, and stemmed the flow of illegal migrants and drugs crossing its borders.
Coast Guard accomplishments during this period included a massive response to the TWA disaster in 1996, and likewise to the exodus of more than 56,000 Haitian and Cuban migrants in 1994. Under Admiral Kramek, in 1994, the Coast Guard was awarded the prestigious Department of Transportation Gold Medal by then-Transportation Secretary Federico Peņa.
Admiral Kramek, a 1961 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy, is married to the former Patricia Havard of Washington, D.C. They have four children, Tracy, Joseph, Suzanne and Nancy.
Admiral Loy takes command of the Coast Guard after serving as its chief of staff since 1996. Previously, the Altoona, Pa., native served as commander of the Coast Guard’s Atlantic Area and commander of U.S. Maritime Defense Zone Atlantic. The 1964 graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy has commanded four Coast Guard cutters, including the Point Lomas on 43 combat patrols in Vietnam.
Admiral Loy and his wife, the former Kay McGirk of Altoona, have two children, Kelly and Michael.
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