Background
He was born in Upland, California and entered the Navy as a Naval Aviation adet in June 1945 and learned to fly in the Stearman N2S biplane at the Naval Air Station Livermore in August 1946.
He was born in Upland, California and entered the Navy as a Naval Aviation adet in June 1945 and learned to fly in the Stearman N2S biplane at the Naval Air Station Livermore in August 1946.
He studied at Stanford University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Engineering and election to Phi Beta Kappa. At the Naval Postgraduate School, receiving a Mississippi in Aeronautical Engineering. Training at the Naval Nuclear Power School, Bainbridge, Maryland.
And at the Naval Nuclear Power Training Unit, Idaho Falls, Idaho.
He was designated a Naval Aviator in June 1948 and commissioned as an Ensign that December. He was subsequently advanced in rank to Captain in January 1969 and his selection for the rank of Rear Admiral was approved by the President in March 1973. He flew 50 combat missions in of Korea, flying the F4U Corsair from the aircraft carrier United States Ship Princeton (CV-37), and 250 combat missions in Vietnam as a squadron and air wing commander.
His father, Ernest Eugene Tissot Senior, was the Chief Mechanic for Grand Canyon Airlines during the 1930s, as well as Amelia Earhart"s mechanic for her Lockheed Vega, which she flew on her record-making flight from Honolulu, Hawaii to Oakland, California in 1935.
He retired from the Navy in 1981 and worked for Northrop Corporation until 1991 and is a member of the Navy Golden Eagles.