2017 Graduate of Distinction
Captain Robert Hofford
Class of 1957
Capt. Robert Holford graduated with honors from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1961. He completed 5 combat tours in Vietnam where he flew 350 combat missions and 950 carrier landings. Capt. Hofford was awarded 64 medals over his career. Some of these medals are the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Navy Commendation, the Medal with Combat Service, the Presidential Unit Citation, the National Defense Service Medal, the Joint Meritorious Service Medal, and the Vietnam Gallantry Medal.
In 1976 he began the first of three tours in the Pentagon, working for the Chief of Naval Operations as a Deputy Director. After his first two tours in the Pentagon, he was assigned to teach at the National War College in Washington, DC, where he created the course in congressional politics for prospective officers for congressional liaison work.
Capt. Hofford concluded his career with an assignment under the Secretary of State as the Naval Attache to Pakistan and then as the Naval Attache to Canada.
