NEW LONDON, Conn. -- Retiring Rear Adm. Richard P. Cueroni handed over command of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy to Rear Adm. Thomas T. Matteson during a ceremony Wednesday on the rolling green campus.
Cueroni, 59, received two ceremonial 13-gun salutes honoring his 36 years of service to to the Coast Guard and his three years leading the academy.
'I've had more satisfaction in this job than in any other,' said Cueroni, who under Coast Guard policy was required to step down after 36 years service.
Matteson, 54, a 1957 graduate of the academy, is a native of Upper Sandusky, a central Ohio city north of Columbus.
Prior to taking command at the academy, Matteson was chief of the Office of Personnel and Training at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington.
His first assignment with the Coast Guard was aboard the cutter Castle Rock in Boston. He entered flight training in 1961 at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Fla., and served at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas.
His assignments included the Coast Guard Air Station in Miami and Port Angles, Wash.
Matteson also served as executive officer of the Aviation Training Center in Mobile, Alabama, and commanding officer of the Coast Guard Air Station in Borninquen, Puerto Rico.
In addition, he was the chief of the aviation branch at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington and was chief of staff of the 8th Coast Guard District in New Orleans.
Matteson recieved a masters degree in management science from the Naval Post Graduate College, Monterey, Calif., and is a 1977 graduate of the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.
Matteson was promoted to flag rank in 1985. He has received several military awards.
Cueroni graduated from the academy in 1953 and served on seven cutters during his career, commanding four of them.
Before becoming Coast Guard Academy superintendent, he was the Coast Guard 7th District commander in Miami. As part of that assignment, he served as then-Vice President George Bush's coordinator of the National Narcotics Border Interdiction System.
