El Capitan!: The Making of an American Naval Officer

In 1958, Frank Gamboa became the first Mexican American from Owens Valley, California, to graduate from the United States Naval Academy. His memoir's focus is his professional development as a naval officer of the line from 1958 to 1988 in the U.S. Navy's surface warfare community. It highlights his duties, challenges and opportunities during more than 17 years of sea duty in destroyers, a cruiser, and six amphibious warships operating in the Navy's Second and Third Fleets; and in frequent and extended deployments in the Sixth and Seventh Fleets during the Cold War. ¡El Capitán! portrays the leadership, management, technical and seamanship skills required to succeed in shipboard billets ranging from division officer to commanding officer and squadron commander, in ranks from ensign to captain. It describes Gamboa's performance as the first Mexican-American naval surface warfare officer to command a major warship as a Commander, the first to command major warship as a Captain, and the first to command a squadron of amphibious warships as a captain. About the Author After leaving the Navy, Frank created Gamboa International Corporation, a management consulting company that he and Linda successfully operated in the private sector from 1994 to 2006. In 1989, he was elected Vice President of the Naval Academy Class of 1958 and continues to serve in that capacity. He and his wife, the former Linda Marie Lehtio, reside in Fairfax, Virginia. Their son, John Frank "Jack" Gamboa, Junior, and his daughter Emma live in Portland, Oregon. Their daughter Judith Ann Callsen and her husband Gary and her daughter Loren reside at Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Virginia.