Blue Jacket Admiral -- The Naval Career of Chick Hayward, published
by Naval Institute Press, 291 Wood Road, Annapolis, MD 21402, by John T.
Hayward and C. W. Borklund, 2000.
"This autobiography records the progress and career of a
particularly unique mind." The would-be Admiral was
a high school
drop out who enlisted in the Navy by claiming to be seventeen, the legal
age. This history is an intriguing story about a high school drop out
who became a Naval Academy graduate, nuclear physicist, naval aviator
and was one of the Navy's first jet pilots. The autobiography
captures the spirit as well as the facts of Hayward's
history-making career, focusing on his involvement in events that had a
major impact on politics, military policies and plans. It is highly
personalized and sometimes opinionated story about matters still under
discussion today.
It is recommended reading for all those persons interested in the
naval history and the military history during the period prior to World
War II and during World War II, Korean War, and Cuban Missile Crises.