U.S. NAVAL CAREER  -  Captain JAMES H. CULLEN, USN

Service dates:  December 1942 to September 1973

Captain Cullen started his aviation career in December 1942 as an aviation cadet during World War II.  He received his wings just as the war ended and was released from active service.  Shortly thereafter, he returned to the Navy and was trained as a helicopter pilot at NAS Pensacola.  From there, he returned to fixed wing aircraft operations.

For the bulk of his career as a Naval Aviator, he flew long range (P-2V Neptune and P-3B Orion) patrol aircraft, designed for hunting Russian submarines during the Cold War. He tracked them and other Soviet ships including tankers, supply ships, destroyers, cruisers, and battleships.  Each cluster of Soviet fishing vessels typically hid a spy ship bristling with listening devices and recording US radio, radar, and TV signals, over the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Mediterranean Seas.  On January 4, 1966, as Commanding Officer (CO) of VP-26, he ferried the first P-3B from California to NAS Brunswick.  VP-26 became the Navy's first operational P-3B Squadron.

As a Pentagon Operations Research Analyst for Operations Directorate of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he analyzed combat air operations during the Vietnam War and participated in briefing President Johnson. His analyses supported the establishment of the Navy's TOP GUN training squadron.  For his work, he received the Legion of Merit.

He was awarded a Gold Star in lieu of a 2nd Legion of Merit while Executive Officer (XO) of USS Guadalcanal for picking up the Apollo 9 capsule in the Atlantic Ocean on March 13, 1969.

Subsequently, he was Director of Operations, and later interim Chief of Staff, Third Fleet with overall responsibility for Anti-Submarine Warfare development and activities in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Captain Cullen retired from active service in September 1973 after serving his country for 30 years.