Rear Adm. Annie B. Andrews recently had her change of command and retirement ceremony from the U.S. Navy in Millington, Tennessee, after 32 years of service to the nation.

The Liberty County native is the daughter of retired Liberty County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Electa Andrews.
Many of the admiral’s family and friends attended the ceremony, including her mother and her sister, Deborah Andrews Dawson and husband Lorenzo with son Deangelo. Many of her shipmates also were present.

Vice Adm. Bill Moran, chief of naval personnel, presided at the change of command ceremony, and Adm. Michelle Howard, vice chief of naval operations, was the guest speaker.

Andrews was the third African-American woman to achieve admiral rank in the Navy’s 240 years. During the ceremony, all three of those women were on-stage together. Besides Andrews, the others are retired Rear Adm. Lilian Fishburne, who was the first, and Howard.

Andrews led Navy Recruiting Command since August 2013 and earned the Distinguished Service Medal for her tour as the top recruiter in America’s Navy. During her tour at NRC, Andrews directed more than 7,400 officers, sailors, civilians and contractors in more than 1,477 Navy Recruiting Stations and Navy Officer Recruiting Stations. Under Andrews, NRC recruited more than 62,500 Americans and commissioned more than 4,000 officers.

At the ceremony, Andrews said, “I couldn’t be at a better place to end my career, where I saw every day America’s best, serving and finding America’s finest to uphold democracy for the future of the fleet and the future of America. Because of you, our fleet is manned and ready to complete critical missions around the world.”