The U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation will host a reception and dinner for friends at the New York Yacht Club on Wednesday, May 21, 2003, to award Joseph F. Cullman, 3rd, of New York City, with a Lone Sailor Award.
A Lone Sailor statue, the symbol of the Navy Memorial, will be presented to Cullman to honor his distinguished career. Mr. Cullman saw combat action as a young naval officer aboard USS Montpelier (CL-57) in the South and Central Pacific in World War II. He is currently chairman emeritus of the Phillip Morris Companies, now known as Altria, Inc. Following his Navy service, Commander Cullman distinguished himself as an enormously successful business leader and an active supporter of charitable organizations and foundations.
Since 1987, the United States Navy Memorial Foundation has presented The Lone Sailor Award to naval veterans who have continued to distinguish themselves in civilian life. Past recipients of the award are: Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense; Gordon M. Bethune, Chairman and CEO of Continental Airlines; John C. Whitehead,
former Deputy Secretary of State; Robert M. Morgenthau, D.A. for the County of New York; Nickolas Davatzes, President and CEO of A & E Television Networks, Senator John F. Kerry (D- Mass.); President John F. Kennedy (posthumously), actors Eddie Albert and Ernest Borgnine; President Richard M. Nixon (posthumously), the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) and President George H. W. Bush.
During the evening, the Foundation will also announce a new collaboration with the Police Athletic League of New York (PALNYC) so that selected youth, from the over 70,000 reached by PALNYC, can benefit from their
Top Gun Experience program.
The U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation annually conducts the Top Gun Experience for teenage youth that provides a better understanding of the Navy core values of Honor, Courage and Commitment. Through a week-long introduction to a broad cross-section of the Navy-Marine Corp team in Washington, D.C., the young people selected to participate gain insight into the Navy's mission, the opportunities it offers its Sailors and the military environment. The Fourth Annual Top Gun Experience will be held in June 2003.
The U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 1977 by Navy, civic and national leaders to perpetuate and honor the best that the Navy represents -- its heritage, values and traditions -- and to demonstrate its enduring relevance today.