Captain Louis J. Collister, USN
Born in Manhattan, Kansas in 1923, Captain Louis J. Collister was brought up in Gates Mills, Ohio. After receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from Case Institute of Technology and completing a reserve midshipman course at the U.S. Naval Academy, he was commissioned an Ensign in 1944.
Captain Collister has served aboard both major and minor combatant ships including the aircraft carriers USS Anzio (CVE-57) and USS Randolph (CVA-15), the cruiser USS Worcester (CL-144), and the destroyer USS Jarvis (DD-799). He has commanded the USS Leray Wilson (DE-414), USS Fessenden (DER-142) and the USS Leonard F. Mason (DD-852).
Captain Collister has served on the staffs of Command Operational Test and Evaluation Force, Commander Cruiser-Destroyer Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet; Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet; and in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.
He attended advanced electronics school at M.I.T. and Bowdoin College, the General Line School in Monterey, the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, and the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
While serving as Chief of Staff, Commander, Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla Three, Captain Collister was awarded the Bronze Star with Combat "V" and the Vietnamese Distinguished Service Order Second Class for Meritorious Service in Operation Sea Dragon, the bombardment and interdiction of North Vietnam by Seventh Fleet cruiser-destroyer forces.
Captain Collister comes to the USS Biddle from command of the combat stores ship, USS Concord (AFS-5), which he placed in commission in 1968. For "meritorious service" as Commanding Officer of Concord during her maiden deployment in the Mediterranean from August 1969 to March 1970, he was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal.
Captain Collister is married to the former Miss Anabel Leigh of Trenton, New Jersey. They have four children: Carol, Jim, Kathy and John, and currently reside in Norfolk, Virginia.
