Navy Recognition:

According to information published by US Navy on March 6, April, the keel of the future USS Harvey C. Barnum, Jr. (DDG 124) was ceremoniously laid at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works (BIW) shipyard.

The ship’s namesake, Col. Harvey “Barney” Barnum, Jr. (USMC, Ret.) and his wife and ship sponsor, Martha Hill, attended the event. Acting Secretary of the Navy, Thomas W. Harker, Maine Senators Susan Collins and Angus King, Jr. and Member of the House of Representatives from Maine, Chellie Pingree were also in attendance.

With the assistance of BIW welder Marty Fish, Col. Barnum inscribed his signature onto the keel plate. As the sponsor, Martha Hill authenticated the keel by etching her initials into the keel plate, a tradition that symbolically recognizes the joining of modular components and the ceremonial beginning of the ship.

Col. Barnum twice served in Vietnam and is a Medal of Honor recipient for heroic actions taken against communist forces at Ky Phu in Quang Tin Province in December 1965 after his company came under enemy fire and was separated from the rest of their battalion…

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