Rear Admiral James C. Tison, Jr., Director of the Coast and Geodetic Survey for the past 3 years, retired on September 1, 1968, after a career spanning 39 years.

A native of South Carolina and a graduate of the Citadel, Admiral Tison joined the Coast and Geodetic Survey as a deck officer in July 1929, and served for the next several years aboard various ships in the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Puget Sound, and Aleutian Islands, and with field parties on the East Coast. He was assistant to the inspector of construction for the Coast and Geodetic Survey at Newport News for several months in 1931 while building of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Ship HYDROGRAPHER was completed. He was transferred by Executive Order to the Air Force in March 1942, and in August went to South America. For the next year he was in charge of photogrammetric and geodetic control operations for aeronautical charting. He remained with the Air Force through 1949, and served in various capacities concerned with mapping and charting. After he returned to the Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1950.

Admiral Tison's assignments included triangulation in the Bahamas, sea duty in Alaska, and liaison duty with the Air Force at Patrick Air Force Base. He graduated from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in 1959 and served for nearly 2 years as Assistant Director for Administration of Coast and Geodetic Survey prior to his appointment as Deputy Director in 1961. He became Acting Director when ESSA was formed on July 13, 1965, and Director on September 1, 1965.

Admiral Tison lives in Alexandria, Virginia, and expects to remain there indefinitely.

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ESSA CORPS BULLETIN, 9/3/1968