SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC Permission grant by The Eagle Tribune N. Andover.Ma to use this article.

Published: 12/06/2006

Navy ship named for Alan Shepard Jr.

By Shelley J. Thompson Staff writer

A new Navy ship will be christened today in the name of astronaut Alan Shepard Jr., the first American in space and one of Derry's famous sons.

Former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu is slated to give the principal address at the ceremony this morning in California. The ship, the USNS Alan Shepard, will launch from the General Dynamics National Steel and Ship Building Co. in San Diego.

"I think he'd be damned proud," Derry historian Richard Holmes said yesterday. "He was always proud of being a Naval officer."

Shepard, who died in 1998 from leukemia, served in the Navy for about 30 years until 1974, when he retired from the Navy and NASA. He was one of the Mercury astronauts named by NASA in 1959 and was the first American in space in 1961. He is one of a dozen Americans to walk on the moon.

Holmes said Derry residents would be proud to know the Navy chose to honor Shepard.

"We're all very excited about it," said Pinkerton Academy trustee Marion Pounder, Shepard's classmate in the Class of 1940.

She said Shepard always gave the academy credit for a good background, not only in the classroom, but in his other activities at the school.

"Shep," as he was known, was active in drama and athletics at Pinkerton. According to an issue of the alumni magazine published after he died, Shepard knew early in life that the Navy was in his future. "Aye, Aye, Sir," was the saying published with his yearbook photo

Pinkerton Academy Headmaster Mary Anderson said the academy is "thrilled that the U.S. Navy has chosen to honor one of our own. May the USS Alan Shepard sail proudly and safely."

The Alan Shepard, a 689-foot ship with a top speed of 20 knots, is a combat support ship that will deliver supplies to Navy ships, transfer cargo and provide logistical support, according to Sen. John E. Sununu, R-N.H., who announced the christening and launch in a statement this week.

"New Hampshire can be proud of the role the USNS Alan Shepard will play in providing for our Navy's readiness well into the 21st century," Sununu said in the statement.

Name game

Across the country are schools and buildings in Alan Shepard Jr.'s name. Some of them are:

r* *Alan B. Shepard Jr. Post Office, Derry

r* *Alan B. Shepard Highway, Interstate 93 in New Hampshire

r* *Alan B. Shepard Elementary School in Bourbonnais, Ill.

r* *Alan Shepard Elementary School in Long Grove, Iowa

r* *Alan B. Shepard Middle School in San Antonio, Texas

r* *Alan B. Shepard High School in Palos Heights, Ill.

r* *Alan Shepard Technology in Education Award given by the Astronauts Memorial Fund at the Kennedy Space Center