US Navy leader in Korea newly appointed

By Jun Ji-hye

Capt. William D. Byrne

Capt. William D. Byrne Jr., currently serving as the commandant of the U.S. Naval Academy, has been assigned to lead the U.S. Navy in Korea after being selected for promotion to rear admiral (lower half), the Pentagon said Tuesday.

Byrne is to be replaced by Marine Col. Stephen Liszewski, an Annapolis native who graduated from the academy in 1990, and will coordinate between U.S. naval forces and those of South Korea.

Byrne, who was born in San Francisco and raised in nearby Pacifica, Calif., graduated from the Naval Academy with a B.S. in Political Science in 1987.

He then received a M.A. in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in 2004.

He became the academy’s 85th commandant in May 2013.

His decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy Commendation and Achievement Medals and various unit and service awards, according to the academy.

His name can be found numerous times in the Navy football records as he was a three-year starting quarterback as a midshipman at the academy in the 1980s.

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