Thursday, February 25, 1999
Group adopts ship named for MU grad
Higgins abducted, killed by Hezbollah
BY PERRY BROTHERS
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A Navy ship named for Col. William R. Higgins, a Miami University graduate murdered by Hezbollah extremists in Lebanon, was officially “adopted” Wednesday by the Cincinnati Council of the U.S. Navy League.
In a ceremony at the Queen City Club, downtown, the area group pledged in a proclamation to “do all things within our power to aid in any way we can the officers and men and women” of the USS Hig gins (DDG 76).
“We're going to be like godparents to her (the ship),” said Robert Economou, president of the Cincinnati council.
Mr. Economou and other council officials presented the ship's captain, Commander L.T. “Red” Smith, a copy of the proclamation and other Cincinnati and United States mementos. The group also told Cmdr. Smith that it planned to donate a van, either leased or bought outright, for the ship to use for at least two years.
The 8,300-ton guided missile destroyer will be christened April 24.. It is being built in Bath, Maine. The crew includes 23 officers and 300 enlisted men and women.
The secretary of the Navy decided to name the ship after Col. Higgins in 1994.
Hezbollah members abducted Col. Higgins, a Louisville native, in 1988. His hometown and the White House tied yellow ribbons around trees as a sign of hope for his return. The kidnappers later released video footage of Col. Higgins' body, hanged by the neck. He was officially declared dead on July 6, 1990.
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