RARE "USS Hornet" Carl J. Seiberlich Hand Signed 4X6 Card COA For Sale

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RARE "USS Hornet" Carl J. Seiberlich Hand Signed 4X6 Card COA:
$399.99

Up for sale a RARE! "USS Hornet" Carl J. Seiberlich Hand Signed 4X6 Card. 

ES-8378

Rear Admiral Carl

Joseph Seiberlich (4 July 1921 – 24 March 2006) was a naval aviator in the United States Navy who

commanded the aircraft carrier USS Hornet that

picked up the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 astronauts after splashdown in the Pacific. He was the first man qualified

to land airships, airplanes and helicopters on an aircraft carrier. Carl

J.Seiberlich was born in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania,

on 4 July 1921 to Charles A. and Helen L. (Dolan) Seiberlich. In high school he joined the Sea Scouts, earning the Quartermaster

Award, its highest rank. His first experience of flight came when he

accepted a demonstration ride around New York Harbor in a Pitcairn PCA-2 autogyro from aviation pioneer Harold Pitcairn.

On graduation from high school, Seiberlich received an appointment to

the United States Naval

Academy, but a physician at the Philadelphia Navy Yard rejected

him for having flat feet. He instead entered the University of Pennsylvania,

but later decided to transfer to the United

States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York.

While there he served briefly in the Battle of the Atlantic on

the troop graduated in 1943 with a Bachelor of Science degree

in Marine Transportation, and accepted a commission as an ensign in the United States Navy Reserve in

April 1943.

Seiberlich was posted to the destroyer USS Mayo. He spent the rest of World War II on

her, participating in the Battle of Salerno, where Mayo engaged German

tanks, and the Battle of Anzio,

where Mayo was badly damaged by a naval mine. In 1945, Mayo went to the

Pacific, and participated in the Battle of Okinawa. Seiberlich was present on Mayo in Tokyo Bay for the signing of the Japanese Instrument of

Surrender on the USS Missouri in

September 1945.

With the war over, Seiberlich reported to the Naval Air Training Center

at the Naval Air Station (NAS)

Lakehurst, where he was trained to fly K-class blimps. Here, he met Trudy Germi, who later became his

wife, during a Miss America pageant

in Atlantic City. On

graduation, he was posted to NAS Santa Ana and then NAS Moffett, flying

blimps. At one point he set a record for crossing the United States in a blimp.

He also became the first person to make a night landing on an aircraft carrier, the USS Mindoro,

in a blimp. In 1951 he was awarded the Harmon Trophy for his pioneering work in blimps. In March

1952, Seiberlich went to NAS Pensacola for training in heavier than air aircraft. On graduation,

he was posted to NAS Hutchinson, where he

qualified on the Consolidated PB4Y-2

Privateer. He subsequently flew the Lockheed P2V Neptune. In

1958, he became executive officer of VS-36 on the aircraft carrier USS Valley Forge.

The following year he attended the Armed Forces Staff College.

He then assumed command of VS-26, flying the Grumman S-2 Tracker from

the aircraft carrier USS Randolph.

In 1961, Seiberlich became the Plans Officer for Vice Admiral Edmund B. Taylor, the Commander of Antisubmarine Warfare

Forces of the Atlantic Fleet.[2] As such Seiberlich had an important role in

surveillance, reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In

1963 he became the navigator of the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid.

He qualified to land HSS-1 Seabat helicopters

on an aircraft carrier, thereby becoming the first naval aviator to qualify to

land airships, airplanes and helicopters on an aircraft carrier. After two

years with the Naval Air Reserve Training Command at NAS Glenview, Seiberlich received his first ship command, of

the fleet oiler USS Salamonie in

1967. He was its last commanding officer, remaining with it until its decommissioning

at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in December 1968. In May 1969, he assumed

command of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet. As

such, he was in charge of the recovery of the crew of Apollo 11 on 24 July 1969, and of the crew of Apollo 12 on 24 November 1969. He remained in command

of Hornet until it too was decommissioned, in June 1970. He

then became the commander of Antisubmarine Warfare Group 3, flying his flag

from the aircraft subsequently served as Director of Aviation Programs,

Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Air Warfare, Deputy Chief of

Naval Personnel, and Commander, Naval Military Personnel Command. He retired from the Navy in 1980. During his

career he had been awarded the Legion of Merit six times. He had also been awarded

the Air Medal. 

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