Hijacked ship captain to be honored at Norfolk parade

NORFOLK — The captain of a commercial ship hijacked by Somali pirates will serve as the marshal of Norfolk’s Grand Illumination Parade.

City officials said Wednesday that Maersk Alabama Capt. Richard Phillips will lead the downtown event on Nov. 21. Phillips has been hailed for offering himself to the pirates in exchange for his crew’s safety.

Phillips also will get to meet with crew members of the USS Bainbridge, the Norfolk-based destroyer that served as a base for his rescuers.

He’s also scheduled to attend a preview of an upcoming National Geographic exhibit on pirates at Nauticus that will feature the lifeboat that Phillips inhabited with his Somali captors until Navy snipers killed the pirates.