 Following the War, he rose to the flag rank and held important staff assignments as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Operations and Readiness and later as Director of the Joint Staff during Cuban Missile Crisis.Riley was a son-in-law of Admiral John H. Towers, pioneer naval aviator and later-Commander-in-Chief, United States Pacific Fleet.Herbert D. Riley was born on December 24, 1904, in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Marion and Sarah Riley.