|
By
JAMES D. HESSMAN
Editor in Chief
NLUS National President John R. Fisher has presented the Navy League's
1999 Admiral Arleigh Burke Leadership Award to Adm. Charles R. Larson,
USN (Ret.), former commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Command and
one of a handful of naval officers qualified both as a naval aviator and
as a nuclear submariner.
Presenting the
award to Larson during pass-in-review ceremonies at the U.S. Naval
Academy in Annapolis, Md., Fisher praised Larson for his "almost
legendary " achievements in the four decades since Larson graduated
from the Academy in 1958. In addition to qualifying as both a naval
aviator and nuclear submariner, Fisher pointed out to the Brigade of
Midshipmen and assembled guests that Larson also served tours as:
- The first
naval officer to be selected as a White House Fellow.
- Naval aide
to the President of the United States.
- Commander of
the Navy's worldwide Deep-Submergence Program.
- Director of
the Navy Long-Range Planning Group.
- The 51st
Superintendent of the Naval Academy.
- Commander in
chief, in his last active-duty assignment, of the United States
Pacific Command--the largest U.S. naval/military area of
responsibility in the entire world.
"Finally,
as we all know," Fisher said, "Admiral Larson returned to his
alma mater in an hour of need to serve as the 55th Superintendent of the
Naval Academy. During that second tour he established a new leadership
curriculum and a new ethics course as well as a Distinguished Chair of
Ethics. He also instituted the Academy's Integrity Development Seminars
and created a billet for a Distinguished Professor of Leadership."
Fisher
emphasized the fact that the Burke Award is presented by the Navy
League, not simply in recognition of distinguished service to the Navy
and the nation, but primarily to honor an individual who--"I want
to emphasize this," Fisher said--"exemplifies the highest
ideals of the United States ... [and] whose ethical standards ...
personify all that is noble in the American character."
Fisher said
that "it is particularly appropriate that this award--named after
one of the most distinguished graduates of this Academy--be presented
today at the Naval Academy to another of its most
distinguished graduates, Admiral Charles R. Larson, who ... throughout
his career served the Navy and the nation with the same selfless
dedication and loyalty personified by Admiral Arleigh Burke
himself."
Previous
winners of the Admiral Arleigh Burke Leadership Award are:
1990
H. Ross Perot
1992 George H.W. Bush
1992 Thomas H. Moorer
1993 John McCain
1995 Walter E. Boomer
1996 Stanley R. Arthur
1997 Michael C. Beck
1997 William P. Lawrence
1998 J. William Middendorf II
|
