Lawmaker wants DDG named for ‘grunt padre’ - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Lawmaker wants DDG named for ‘grunt padre’

A New York congressman wants the Navy to name its next destroyer after a chaplain from his district who was awarded the Medal of Honor after being killed in action in Vietnam.

Rep. Michael McMahon, a Democrat, sent a letter Thursday to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus asking that the Navy’s next destroyer be named for Lt. Vincent Capodanno, who was serving with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines in 1967 when his unit came under attack by the North Vietnamese. Under heavy fire, the “grunt padre” gave last rites to wounded and dying Marines and was killed trying to help a wounded corpsman.

The Navy already named one warship for Capodanno — a Knox-class frigate that served from 1973 to 1993, then was sold to Turkey in 2002. McMahon said that ship’s service adds another reason for the Navy to use Capodanno’s name again.

“Due to the decorated history of both the USS Capodanno, which saved approximately 22 lives in her first deployment and was the only Navy vessel to be blessed by the pope, and her namesake, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for refusing to stop comforting the wounded and dying in spite of several injuries during an attack by the North Vietnamese, it is only appropriate to name a new vessel after this brave man,” McMahon said in a written statement.

The Navy plans at least four more destroyers for which it has no names: The third Zumwalt-class ship, DDG 1002, and three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, DDGs 113 to 115. There are other planned ships that aren’t yet named, but traditionally only destroyers are named for naval heroes.

Military Times Hall of Valor