DATE: Friday, August 1, 1997                TAG: 9708010693

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY,STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   79 lines

NORFOLK NATIVE CHOSEN FOR 2 CRUCIAL MILITARY COMMANDS

Less than a year after he pinned the four silver stars of a Navy admiral on his uniform, Norfolk native Harold W. Gehman Jr. has been nominated to become NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic and commander-in-chief of the U.S. Atlantic Command.

The posts, both headquartered in Norfolk, are considered to be among the most prestigious in the nation's military.

President Clinton announced Thursday that he was nominating Gehman, 54, currently the vice chief of naval operations. He will succeed Marine Corps Gen. John J. Sheehan, who is retiring in September.

For Gehman, who grew up around the Navy as the son of a surface warfare officer, attended Norfolk Catholic High School and entered the Navy through Penn State's ROTC program, the nomination continues a fast-track rise to the military's senior leadership.

He pinned on his fourth star in Norfolk last September, when he was nominated for his current post while serving as Sheehan's deputy in Norfolk. He first made flag rank in October 1991.

``There couldn't be a better choice for the job,'' Sheehan said Thursday. ``I am particularly pleased to see Admiral Gehman nominated as my relief. I have known and worked with (him) for many years.''

Although his reassignment must be confirmed by the Senate, NATO wasted no time accepting Gehman. NATO's Defense Planning Committee adopted a resolution Thursday accepting his nomination as supreme allied commander Atlantic.

The committee also released Sheehan ``with great regret'' from his assignment.

The NATO post - which shares command of the alliance's military muscle with a sister command in Brussels, Belgium - is responsible for more than 12 million square miles of Atlantic Ocean, extending from the North Pole to the Tropic of Cancer and from the coastal waters of North America to those of Europe and Africa.

The U.S. Atlantic command, although in existence since 1947, was elevated in importance in 1993 as a result of the military's bottom-up review. It now provides all joint-service forces that would be needed to fight in any American-controlled conflict.

The first commander after the reorganization in 1993 was Adm. Paul David Miller, who retired in 1994 when Sheehan took over.

Gehman has lived in Hampton Roads for much of his life, moving in and out first with his parents and later as he pursued his career. His studies at Norfolk Catholic High School ended when one of his father's transfers took him to Washington.

``We will always call this area home,'' he said last fall, when he left Norfolk for Washington.

His first tour of duty was as main propulsion assistant and damage control assistant aboard the Mayport, Fla.-based destroyer English. He later commanded a detachment of seven Swift - or fast patrol - boats in Vietnam.

After completing Destroyer Officer School in Newport, R.I., he served as engineering officer aboard the guided missile destroyer John King and as executive officer on the guided missile destroyer Mitscher, then as executive assistant to the deputy commander-in-chief at the Atlantic Command.

His subsequent sea duty included tours as commanding officer aboard the salvage ship Conserver in Pearl Harbor, the Norfolk-based guided missile destroyer Dahlgren and guided missile cruiser Belknap, and as commander of the Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier battle group, also based in Norfolk.

Gehman has had several tours of duty in Washington, including stints at the Bureau of Naval Personnel and on the staff of the chief of naval operations. ``I know where to park,'' he joked last fall, before returning to the Pentagon.

In 1994 he served as deputy commander and chief of staff for the Norfolk-based U.S. Atlantic Fleet.

His awards include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star with combat ``V,'' the Meritorious Service Medal, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Navy Achievement Medal with two gold stars, and the Combat Action Ribbon.

He is married to the former Janet Fay Johnson of Cary, N.C. They have two children, Katherine of Washington and Christopher, a student at the University of Virginia. The admiral's parents, Harold and Claire Gehman, reside in Florida. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Gehman KEYWORDS: U.S. NAVY APPOINTMENT

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