Navy ship named for civil rights leader Medgar Evers

SAN DIEGO (AP) - The widow of Medgar Evers broke a bottle of champagne against the hull of a new Navy ship that has been named in honor of the slain civil rights leader...

TheGrio Staff

Nov 12, 2011

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The widow of Medgar Evers broke a bottle of champagne against the hull of a new Navy ship that has been named in honor of the slain civil rights leader.

Myrlie Evers was among a thousand people who attended the christening of the USNS Medgar Evers in San Diego on Saturday.

WATCH NBC SAN DIEGO’s COVERAGE OF THE SHIP CHRISTENING HERE:
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Naval officials, politicians, local citizens and members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People were on hand to hear a speech honoring Evers by Ray Mabus, the Secretary of the Navy.

The 689-foot cargo ship will deliver food, ammunition, fuel and other provisions to Navy combat ships at sea.

The vessel was built in San Diego by General Dynamics NASSCO.

Medgar Evers, a World War II veteran and field secretary for the NAACP, was shot to death in 1963.