25th USO-Metro Annual Awards Dinner
Celebrates Heroes, Past and Present

For a quarter of a century, the USO of Metropolitan Washington has honored outstanding individuals for supporting our men and women in uniform at its Annual Awards dinner. This year, a very special guest, First Lady Laura Bush, accepted the USO-Metro Service Award. She thanked the USO for its work since 1941, by stating, “Americans have a responsibility to support our troops, and certainly no one does it better than the USO.”
Legendary entertainer Connie Stevens presented the Service Award to Mrs. Bush and highlighted the First Lady’s commitment to issues that include education, health care, and human rights. Close to 650 people attended the event, including: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace, Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Nicholson, Secretary of the Navy Don Winter, Miss America 2007 Lauren Nelson and country artist Michael Peterson. Held on March 27 at the Ritz-Carlton in Pentagon City, one of the highlights was honoring Master Sergeant DavidLee Glinski III of the US Air Force, with the 2007 C. Haskell Small Award in recognition of his volunteer service to fire departments, youth soccer and baseball teams, and orphanages.
America’s Beloved Tenor Daniel Rodriguez was also honored for his volunteer efforts. A longtime supporter of USO-Metro, Mr. Rodriguez has donated countless performances and has raised money to support our service members through the USO. For his remarkable devotion, Mr. Rodriguez received the USO-Metro Lifetime Achievement Award, proclaiming, “I’m not nearly done with the USO.”
Veterans from World War II, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom were recognized, the majority of whom are recovering from wounds at Walter Reed and Bethesda Hospital. After the tearful ceremony, a gracious Trace Adkins was awarded the USO-Metro Merit Award for calling attention to the sacrifices of our nation’s veterans through his songs. The country star thanked USO-Metro and stated, “I just sing songs and try to help people that way.” At the end of an extraordinary evening, Mr. Adkins captured the sentiments of every individual in the room, declaring, “I support the troops. I support what they do.”