NAVAL RESERVE CHANGES COMMAND

The U.S. Navy put on its best uniforms Saturday for the change of command ceremony held at the Reserve Center, 2530 Maria Louis Lane.

Lt. Cmdr. Donald R. Taylor relinquished his command to Cmdr. Larry A. Hamel as the commanding officer of the Naval Reserve Center in Cape Girardeau.

Hamel, a native of Indianola, Miss., is currently a doctoral candidate at Webster University in St. Louis.

He has served as commander of the Reserve Centers in Dubuque, Iowa, and Memphis, Tenn., in addition to serving at the Reserve Personnel Center in New Orleans and the Reserve Readiness Command Region Nine in Memphis.

Taylor has been commanding officer for almost three years.

A native of Grand Chain, Ill., Taylor attended Century High School, Shawnee College and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Taylor has had a variety of assignments before returning to the area to command the Reserve Center.

He will leave Cape Girardeau later this month to become the director of information systems for the Naval Reserve Personnel Center in New Orleans.

The Reserve Center provides training, administrative and logistical support for Naval reservists in Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois, western Kentucky, northwestern Tennessee and northeast Arkansas.