Lawrence Chambers

Lawrence Cleveland "Larry" Chambers (born June 10, 1929) is the first African American to command a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier and the first African-American graduate of the Naval Academy to reach flag rank. While in command of during Operation Frequent Wind, Chambers gave the controversial order to push overboard millions of dollars' worth of UH-1 Huey helicopters so Republic of Vietnam Air Force Major Buang-Ly could land on the aircraft carrier in a Cessna O-1 Bird Dog with his wife and five children, thereby saving their lives. raised by his mother, Charlotte Chambers. One of his brothers, Andrew, later became a lieutenant general in the U.S. Army.

After Chambers' father died, his mother began working in the War Department (which oversaw the United States Army) to support the family.

Chambers participated in Junior ROTC while attending Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C. After graduating as class valedictorian and commander of the corps of cadets, Chambers considered using the college/university level senior ROTC program to also pay for college. However, Wesley A. Brown, the first African American graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, encouraged him to apply there.

Career In 1954, after 18 months of flight training, Chambers was designated as a Naval Aviator.

From 1968 to 1971, Chambers flew combat missions over Vietnam from the aircraft carriers and . Soon the carrier's flight deck was full of helicopters carrying refugees from the fall of South Vietnam.

On that same day, South Vietnamese air force Major Buang-Ly loaded his wife and five children into a two-seat Cessna O-1 Bird Dog and took off from Con Son Island. After evading enemy ground fire, Major Buang headed out to sea and spotted Midway. Midways crew attempted to contact the aircraft on emergency frequencies but the pilot continued to circle overhead with his landing lights turned on. When a spotter reported that there were at least four people in the two-place aircraft, all thoughts of forcing the pilot to ditch alongside were abandoned—it was unlikely the passengers of the overloaded Bird Dog could survive the ditching and safely escape before the plane sank. After three tries, Major Buang managed to drop a note from a low pass over the deck:

Despite the possibility that he might be court martialed, Captain Chambers issued the order to allow the plane to land on Midways flight deck. The Bird Dog that Major Buang landed is now on display at the National Naval Aviation Museum at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.

At the time, Chambers had only been in command of Midway for four or five weeks and believed that his order would get him court martialed.

Later life

After retiring from the Navy, Chambers became director of program development at System Development Corporation. In 2010, Chambers took part in commemorations honoring Operation Frequent Wind. This annual event raises funds for the "San Diego Inner City Junior Golf Foundation", a nonprofit founded by Brown and his son. The foundation offers inner-city youth the opportunity to learn golf and develop life skills, with proceeds from the event going toward scholarships for students.