Rear Admiral Cueroni assumed the duty of Chief, Office of Personnel in May 1981.
A 1953 graduate of the United States Coast Guard Academy, Admiral Cueroni has served on seven ships in the Atlantic, Pacific, Caribbean and Alaska, commanding four of them. His shore assignments have been in the field of general operations, training and liaison. He served overseas as an advisor to the Haitian Coast Guard. Recent assignments have been as Chief of Operations in the Thirteenth Coast Guard District, Seattle, Washington, and Chief of Staff, Third Coast Guard District, New York, New York.
Admiral Cueroni is a 1965 graduate of the Armed Forces Staff College and a 1976 Distinguished Graduate of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.
His military awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, Commendation Medal and Commandant's Letter of Commendation.
He is originally from Framingham, Massachusetts. Married on June 6, 1953, he and his wife, the former Elizabeth H. of West Hartford Connecticut, have five children, Robin, Nancy, Donna, Cheryl, and Richard Jr.
Chronology of Duty Assignments
Admiral Cueroni attended public schools in Massachusetts, New York and graduated from William Hall High School in west Hartford, Connecticut in 1947. In 1949 he received an Associate Degree in Engineering from the University of Hartford before appointment as a cadet in the United States Coast Guard Academy.
Upon graduation from the Academy in 1953 he served two years as deck watch officer and student engineer in the Coast Guard Cutter Yakutat operating in the North Atlantic. From July 1955 to March 1956 he was assigned as the first commanding officer of the Coast Guard Cutter 95315 on patrol duty out of New London, Connecticut. From March 1956 to March 1957 he assumed command of the Coast Guard Cutter Cape Starr, also out of New London.
For the next two years, he served as Executive Officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Bittersweet in Kodiak, Alaska before returning to New London on the Coast Guard Academy staff as a Company Officer and Assistant Football Coach. From July 1962 to July 1963, he served as liaison officer to the Haitian Coast Guard in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, a tour which ended abruptly with the suspension of diplomatic relations between the United States and the Republic of Haiti. For the next eighteen months he served as Executive Officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Owasco, an ocean station vessel operating out of New London.
Following graduation from the Armed Forces Staff College in January 1965, he was assigned to the Staff of the Commander, Pacific Area in San Francisco, California, as a member of the Operations Evaluation Division and then as Search and Rescue Officer and Assistant Chief of Operations.
In September 1968, he became the first commanding officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Dependable, a rescue and law enforcement cutter operating out of Panama City, Florida, before being reassigned to Headquarters in July 1970 as Assistant Chief of the Operations Intelligence Staff. In June 1971 he was reassigned as a Special Assistant to the Commandant and later as his Administrative Assistant. In August 1975 he attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. Graduating the following summer, he became the first commanding officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Polar Sea, an icebreaker operating out of Seattle, Washington.
Two years later he became Chief of Operations, Thirteenth Coast Guard District in Seattle, a post he held when selected for flag rank in January 1980.
Assigned as chief of Staff, Third Coast guard District in New York for one year, he assumed post as Chief, Office of Personnel, Coast Guard Headquarters, in May 1981.
Chronology of Coast Guard Promotions
Following his initial appointment as Ensign on June 5, 1953, he was subsequently promoted as follows: Lieutenant (Junior Grade) on December 5, 1954; Lieutenant on 1 July 1957; Lieutenant Commander on 1 July 1963; Commander on 1 July 1967; Captain on 1 July 1974; and Rear Admiral on January 24, 1981.
Medals and Awards
Meritorious Service Medal, Coast Guard Commendation Medal, and Commandant's Letter of Commendation.