WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and Congressman Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., today welcomed a decision by Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer to name Ruby Lucas, widow of Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Jack Lucas, as a co-sponsor of DDG 125, the USS Jack Lucas. 

Secretary Spencer agreed to name Ruby Lucas as co-sponsor following a formal request from Wicker, Cochran, and Palazzo. 

“We believe Ms. Lucas fully deserves the honor of being named a co-sponsor for a ship dedicated to the memory of her late husband,” the Mississippi lawmakers wrote Spencer.

Jack Lucas, who passed away in June 2008, was the youngest Marine and youngest WWII service member to win the Medal of Honor.  He was honored for his heroic actions during the Battle of Iwo Jima.  Jack Lucas was a longtime resident of Hattiesburg, where Ms. Lucas still resides.

Huntington Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula will build the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.  Ms. Lucas will share co-sponsor responsibilities with Catherine B. Reynolds, who was named the ship’s sponsor by former Navy Secretary Ray Mabus last year.  The Ship Ceremonies team from Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) informed the USS Jack Lucas Commissioning Committee of the change.