Noel Gayler Noel Arthur Meredyth Gayler ( ; December 25 , 1914 – July 14 , 2011 ) was an admiral in the United States Navy , who served as the sixth Director of the National Security Agency from 1969 to 1972 , and ninth Commander of Pacific Command from 1972 to 1976 . Gayler was awarded three Navy Cross medals as a World War II flying ace and is credited with five aerial victories while flying for VF - 2 and VF - 3 . Gayler was an ardent advocate for nuclear disarmament . Biography . Gayler was born in Birmingham , Alabama , entered the United States Naval Academy on June 6 , 1931 , and was commissioned an ensign in the U . S . Navy on June 6 , 1935 . His first assignment was as an Engineering Officer on the battleship , then the destroyer , followed by service as the Gunnery Officer on the destroyer . In March 1940 , Gayler entered flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola , Florida , and was designated a Naval Aviator in November 1940 . He was assigned to fighter squadron VF - 3 in November 1940 , and was credited with destroying five enemy aircraft in aerial combat . Between February and May 1942 Gayler was awarded the Navy Cross three times , the first person to achieve this . He was transferred to NAS Anacostia in Washington , D . C . , in June 1942 to serve as a VF Project Officer . From June 1943 to June 1944 , Gayler served as a test pilot at NAS Patuxent River , Maryland . He next served as Commanding Officer of VF - 12 from June 1944 to February 1945 . Gayler was Air Operations Officer for the 2nd Carrier Task Force from March to November 1945 . Gayler was an ardent advocate for nuclear disarmament . As a lieutenant commander and a fighter pilot , he flew over Hiroshima six days after the first atomic bomb was dropped on August 6 , 1945 . He was stunned and saw nothing moving , and vowed to work to eliminate nuclear weapons . He then served as Executive Officer , and then Deputy Director of Special Devices Center from February 1946 to April 1948 . Gayler was Operations Officer on the carrier from April 1948 to September 1949 , before heading the Fighter Design Branch in Washington , D . C . , from October 1949 to June 1951 . He was Commanding Officer of the Navy ' s experimental jet fighter squadron VX - III ( VX - 3 ) at Atlantic City , New Jersey , from June 1951 to January 1954 . Gayler served in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations from January 1954 to January 1956 , and then became Commanding Officer of the seaplane tender from January 1956 to February 1957 . He was Operations Officer for the Commander in Chief , Pacific Fleet , from February to June 1957 , and then served as a Naval Aide to the Secretary of the Navy from June 1957 to April 1959 . Gayler commanded the aircraft carrier from May 1959 to June 1960 , and then served as the U . S . Naval Attache in London , England , from August 1960 to August 1962 . Gayler was commander of Carrier Division 20 from August 1962 to August 1963 , and then served as Assistant Chief of Naval Operations for Development from August 1963 to August 1967 . He was Deputy Director of the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff at Offutt Air Force Base , Nebraska , from September 1967 to July 1969 . Gayler became the 6th Director of the National Security Agency in July 1969 , serving in that position until he became Commander in Chief of U . S . Pacific Command ( CINCPAC ) in August 1972 . Gayler served as CINCPAC until his retirement from the Navy on August 31 , 1976 . As the CINCPAC , Admiral Gayler had the honor of personally welcoming the prisoners of war from Vietnam as they arrived at Clark Air Base in the Philippines . They reported back to duty to him as they walked off the plane . Gayler died July 14 , 2011 in Alexandria , Virginia . Decorations . Here is the ribbon bar of Admiral Noel A . M . Gayler :