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The governor of Michigan and the chief of the National Guard Bureau headline the recipients of the 2024 NGAUS Individual Awards.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson are set to receive the Harry S. Truman Award (pictured above), the association’s highest recognition.
NGAUS will present the Truman and many of the association’s other awards at the 146th General Conference & Exhibition, Aug. 24-26, in Detroit.
To be considered for the Truman award, recipients must have made sustained contributions of exceptional and far-reaching magnitude to the defense and security of the United States in a manner worthy of national recognition.
The award is named after Harry S. Truman — the 33rd U.S. president — who fought in World War I as a member of the Missouri Guard.
Past recipients have been presidents, members of Congress, governors and senior general officers.
Currently serving in her second term as Michigan’s governor, Whitmer is being recognized for "fighting for service member benefits while ensuring the Guard has modern equipment and facilities to prepare for future conflicts."
Whitmer was also instrumental in securing over $2 million in state funding to support the upcoming NGAUS conference in Detroit.
This funding enables company grade officers, enlisted soldiers and their spouses to attend the conference without paying registration fees.
Hokanson is being recognized for leading the Guard as NGB chief through events including the COVID-19 pandemic, the civil unrest on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C., the withdrawal from Afghanistan and supporting Ukraine before and after Russia invaded the Eastern European nation in 2022.
He is also being recognized for advocating for the Guard on Capitol Hill and expanding the service's State Partnership Program.
Hokanson has been NGB chief since 2020.
He has also served as the adjutant general of Oregon, the deputy commander of U.S. Northern Command, the director of the Army Guard and NGB vice chief.
Hokanson’s combat deployments include operations Just Cause (in Panama), Enduring Freedom (in Afghanistan) and Iraqi Freedom.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Air Force Gen. Michael A. Minihan, the commander of Air Mobility Command, are the recipients of the Montgomery medal, the association’s second highest honor.
The Montgomery medal recognizes an individual or organization who provides outstanding support in pursuit of the association's objectives.
The award is named after the late Gillespie V. "Sonny" Montgomery, a 15-term Democratic congressman from Mississippi who was known as "Mr. National Guard" for his support of citizen-soldiers.
U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. and Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., are recipients of the Charles Dick Medal of Merit.
The medal is named in honor of Maj. Gen. Charles Dick, the NGAUS president from 1902 to 1909.
Dick was a major general in the Ohio Guard before becoming a congressman and later a senator representing the Buckeye State as a Republican.
He was responsible for the passage of the Dick Acts of 1903 and 1908 that established the foundation of the modern Guard.
NGAUS is conferring 92 individual awards this year.
The complete list is available at www.ngaus.org/about-ngaus/awards.
— By Donald Lambert
