sentences:  His grandfather was a Chief Machinist's Mate in the Navy and served for 23 years from 1922 to 1945.DeLoach received his first taste of what Navy life when he was a teenager and his father took him out on his minesweeper for two weeks.This experience plus, the fact that it was his family's tradition to serve in the Navy were influential factors when in 1974 he choose to attend the United States Naval Academy upon his graduation from First Colonial High in Virginia Beach, Virginia.