The United States Navy Memorial presents a Lone Sailor Award to Sea Service veterans who have excelled with distinction in their respective careers during or after their service. The award recipients will join a list of men and women who have distinguished themselves by drawing upon their military experience to become successful in their subsequent careers and lives, while exemplifying the core values of Honor, Courage and Commitment. The Lone Sailor Award has been given out each year since the Navy Memorial was dedicated in 1987.
The Lone Sailor Awards Dinner is an annual gala hosted by the Navy Memorial to Honor, Recognize and Celebrate its constituents and award recipients.
The ceremony is held in September of each year at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.
The United States Navy Memorial also issues a corresponding award known as the Naval Heritage Award, issued to those who were not veterans of Sea Services, but have done outstanding work to support the Sea Services and displayed the same values of Lone Sailor Award recipients in their lives.
Lone Sailor Award honorees Source:
(An * denotes a posthumous recipient)
2025 James G. Stavridis (Admiral and Chair of the board of trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation Charles Sams (former director of the National Park Service
2024 Master Chief Special Warfare Operator (SEAL) Edward C. Byers JR. (Medal of Honor Recipient) Jack O. Bovender Jr. (Former Chairman and CEO of Hospital Corporation of America)
2023 Robert "Bob" Work (32nd US Deputy Secretary of Defense) U.S. Navy Master Chief William Goines (first African-American Navy Seal)
2022 James Rex Barker Admiral Thomas “Tom” B. Fargo
2021 Drew Carey U.S. Senate Chaplain Barry Black 2020 Bill Withers James Mattis 2019 Dr. Jack London Paul Galanti
2018 Harvey Barnum, Jr. William Hannigan Robert E. Naser* 2017 Christopher Gardner Delbert* & Ima Black David Robinson 2016 Daniel D’Aniello Senator John H. Glenn, Jr. Rear Admiral Robert H. Shumaker John P. Cosgrove 2015 Admiral James S. Gracey J. William Middendorf II Robert S. Morrison C. Michael Petters 2014 Honorable Samuel A. Nunn, Jr. James A. Skinner Robert J. Stevens 2013 Daniel Akerson General Paul X. Kelley Ted Turner 2012 Everett Alvarez, Jr. John Paul DeJoria J. David Power III Mark Russell 2011 Lloyd V. "Beau" Bridges III Jeffrey L. Bridges Lloyd V. Bridges, Jr.* Gerald F. "Jerry" Coleman Robert W.A. Feller* Brian P. Lamb 2010 Lanier W. Phillips Edward W. Lebaron, Jr.
2009 Lawrence P. "Yogi" Berra Leonard A. Lauder Frederick W. Smith 2008 A.G. Lafley John H. McConnell* Arnold Palmer 2007 Tom Benson Morgan L. Fitch, Jr., Esq. Stan Musial Senator John W. Warner, Jr. 2006 Admiral William J. Crowe, Jr. Arnold "Red" Auerbach 2005 Rear Admiral Grace Hopper* Senator John McCain 2004 Benjamin Bradlee Admiral Stansfield Turner 2003 Captain Dan A. Carmichael Joseph F. Cullman, III Captain James A. Lovell, Jr. 2002 Gordon M. Bethune Honorable Donald H. Rumsfeld Representative Floyd D. Spence* Representative Bob Stump 2000 Nickolas Davatzes Robert M. Morgenthau President Theodore Roosevelt* John C. Whitehead 1999 Charles Francis Adams IV* Captain Thomas J. Hudner, Jr. President John F. Kennedy* Senator John F. Kerry 1998 Eddie Albert Ambassador John Gavin Admiral Hyman G. Rickover* Esther L. Snyder 1997 Ernest Borgnine Captain Winifred Quick Collins Senator Robert Kerrey Austin H. Kiplinger Edmund W. Littlefield Henry Trione Jonathan Winters 1996 Dr. Robert Ballard Roger T. Staubach Dr. Kathryn Sullivan 1995 President Richard M. Nixon* 1994 Tony Curtis Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan Admiral E.R. Zumwalt, Jr. 1993 James A. Michener Allen E. Murray Harold A. Poling Rear Admiral William Thompson 1992 President Gerald R. Ford Honorable H. Lawrence Garrett, III 1991 Admiral Arleigh Burke President George H. W. Bush Justice William S. White 1989 Admiral Thomas H. Moorer 1987 Herman Wouk
Naval Heritage Award honorees Source:
2023 U.S. Senator Susan Collins
2022 Christine H. Fox
2016 Peter Ho Martin A. Kropelnicki
2013 Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
2008 Representative Norm Dicks
2006 Senator Daniel Inouye
2005 Representative Ike Skelton
2002 Clive Cussler
1998 President Ronald W. Reagan John Wayne
1997 Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher Ambassador Paul H. Nitze
1996 Bob Hope
1995 Senator Margaret Chase Smith
References