Responding to a call for help from a four-man combat team on a reconnaissance mission, Electronics Technician 1 (SEAL), Jeffrey Alan Lucas, left, joined seven fellow SEALs and eight other crewmembers boarding an MH-47 Chinook helicopter.  Although the mission was particularly dangerous as it was in broad daylight, it was critical that they respond because the combat team was engaged in a firefight with Taliban and al Qaeda forces.  While he and his team took valiant action to save the combat team, enemy forces brought down the MH-47 in eastern Afghanistan, killing ET1 Lucas and the other fifteen aboard on June 28, 2005.

Jeff Lucas wanted to be a SEAL from childhood and entered the Navy after graduating from high school in 1989.  He worked his way up until he reached his goal of SEAL in 1994.  In 2004, he was awarded SEAL of the Year, East Coast, one of two awards issued nationally each year.  “I believe in what Jeff was doing because he was doing what he was called to do,” says his mother, Pat Lucas. “His dedication is what keeps us free.  He’s my hero.  He should be a hero to us all.”

News

• On April 8, 2006 there will be a celebration of an extraordinary man and an extraordinary life.  A banquet dinner in Gresham, Oregon will feature a full sit down dinner, bar, an auction and entertainment with all proceeds going to the Jeff Lucas Memorial Fund to build a memorial to honor Jeff and all those who have died in the service of our country. For more information, click here.