Rear Admiral Robert S. Lucas became Commander of the Seventeenth Coast Guard District February 29, 1984. He came to Alaska after a tour at Coast Guard Headquarters as Chief, Office of Engineering.
Rear Admiral Lucas was at the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore, before being assigned to Headquarters. He had previously been Deputy Commander of the Pacific Area in San Francisco, a post he went to after three years at the 17th District - first as Chief, Operations Division and then as Chief of Staff.
A native of Hutchison, Kan., Rear Admiral Lucas was born on July 6, 1930 and graduated from Gresham Union High School in Gresham, Ore.
Winning an appointment as Cadet in 1948, he graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, New London, Conn., with a commission of Ensign on June 6, 1952, and received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering.
His initial assignments from the Academy were in Honolulu as Deck Officer aboard the United States Coast Guard Cutters Forster, Vance, and Buttonwood, and in Seattle, as Student Engineer/Assistant aboard the USCGC Northwind and USCGC Wachusett.
From May 1955 to August 1956, he was the Commanding Officer of Coast Guard LORAN Station Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands. He was subsequently transferred to the Captain of the Port Office in Honolulu, there to serve as Executive Officer. During the following three years, he was assigned as a sutdent at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he received the professional degree of Naval Engineer and a Master's Degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering in June, 1960. He was then assigned to the USCGC Winnebago as Engineering Officer.
He served his next tour of duty, from July 1962 to June 1966, at the First Coast Guard District in Boston, as Assistant Chief and later Chief, Naval Engineering Branch. His next two assignments were aboard the USCGC Wachusett, first as Executive Officer in July 1966, and then as Commanding Officer from July 1967 to June 1969, during which time 10 months were spent off the coast of South Vietnam as a part of Operation Markettime, a joint Navy-Coast Guard anti-infiltration effort.
From July 1969 to June 1972, he served as Commanding Officer of the Resdient Inspector Office in New Orleans. In that post, he supervised the construction of USCGC's Munro, Jarvis, and Midgett. In July 1972, he became the Chief, Special Projects and Systems Branch in the Naval Engineering Division at Headquarters. Remaining at Headquarters for his next two assignments, he served as Assistant Chief and then Chief, Naval Engineering Division. In July 1976, he began his three year tour at the Seventeenth District Office.
His next assignment was Deputy Area Commander of the Pacific Area. In June 1980, he was ordered to the Yard in Baltimore, to serve as Commanding Officer. He then returned to Headquarters as Chief, Office of Engineering.
Following is a resume of his appointments in rank: Cadet, July 1948; Ensign, June 1952; Lieutenant (junior grade), December 1953; Lieutenant, July 1956; Lieutenant Commander, July 1962; Commander, January 1967; Captain, July 1973; and Rear Admiral, April 1981.
In addition to receiving the Navy Presidential Unit Citation and the Bronze Star while on Wachusett during combat operations, he has been awarded the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, two Coast Guard Commendation Medals, two Coast Guard unit Commendations, the National Defense Medal, the Arctic Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal (with three Bronze Stars), the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces Meritorious Unit Citation (Gallantry Cross), the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, and Expert Rifle and Pistol Medals. Rear Admiral Lucas is also entitled to wear the Coast Guard Cutterman's Insignia.
Rear Admiral Lucas is a member of the society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, the American Society of Naval Engineers, the Society of American Military Engineers, and is a Registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Rear Admiral Lucas is married to the former Kay F. Ray of Oak Hill, W.Va., and is the son of Norman R. and Augusta C. Lucas who live in Bandon, Oregon.
Click here to see the orginal biographical sketch.