Bob Dole Receives DOD Highest Civilian Award
By Chris Plante/CNN
WASHINGTON (April 29) -- Former U.S. Senator and Republican presidential candidate Bob
Dole was awarded the Department of Defense's highest civilian award
Wednesday in a military ceremony at Fort Myer in Arlington, Va.
The award was presented by Defense Secretary William Cohen and Vice
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Ralston (U.S. Air Force).
In the full honor and review ceremony, complete with cannon salute,
military band and substantial pomp, Dole was presented with the "Department
of Defense Distinguished Public Service Award." The medal is awarded "for
exceptional devotion to duty and extremely significant contribution of broad
scope to efficiency of other improvements in the operation of the Department of
Defense", according to the DOD manual on awards.
The award and ceremony were to honor the 74-year-old Dole "for his years of
service to the department," both as a soldier in World War II and as a longtime member of Congress who was supportive of the Defense Department, according to U.S. Army Colonel Richard Bridges.
Dole received disabling injuries in April of 1945 while fighting in Italy.
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