Cleveland Indians first baseman Nick Swisher, left, Senior Chief Petty Officer Carl Thompson and baseball Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda receive the 2014 Bob Feller Act of Valor Award at the Navy Memorial in Washington D.C., on Nov. 5, 2014. ( Martin L. Carey/U.S. Navy)
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — A USS George Washington sailor received the Bob Feller Act of Valor award alongside a former major league all-star and a Hall of Fame manager at the Navy Memorial in Washington D.C, on Nov. 5.
Senior Chief Petty Officer Carl Thompson, Cleveland Indians slugger Nick Swisher and Dodgers great Tommy Lasorda were each recognized by the award foundation for possessing “the values, integrity and dedication to serving our country that Bob Feller himself displayed.”
Feller was one of the best pitchers in the major leagues when he enlisted in the Navy days after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
He spent four years on missions in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, eventually gaining promotion to chief petty officer. He then returned to baseball and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1962 on his first ballot.
This is the second year of the award's presentation, which honors a sailor, a current baseball player and a Hall of Famer, representing three major stages of Feller’s life.
Thompson serves as the calibration laboratory leading chief, supporting 18 departments and 71 aircraft. He also voluntarily completed an individual assignment to Djibouti, where he served as command security manager for the Combined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa.
I would have never dreamed that I would receive an award for the way I live my life, but I am extremely grateful for my parents and all those teachers, mentors, and community leaders along the way who instilled in me the morals and ethics that I live my life by,” Thompson said in a statement posted on the foundation’s website.
Swisher was honored for his work in support of the Wounded Warrior Project and Operation Homefront. Swisher and his wife have also traveled with the USO to Afghanistan to meet with servicemembers.
Lasorda also postponed his baseball career to serve in the Army from 1945 to 1947. He has visited more than 40 U.S. bases and traveled to Iraq in 2009. He has participated in the swearing-in ceremonies of more than 1,500 servicemembers, according to the foundation.
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