The Medal of Honor Convention concluded its programming Saturday night with the Patriot Awards Gala in the Knoxville Convention Center.
Hundreds of top-ranking military officials rubbed shoulders with the likes of movie stars and a Supreme Court justice.
After the opening reception and dinner, emcee and actor Gary Sinise introduced the Bob Hope Award for Excellence in Entertainment and announced this year’s winner: Mark Wahlberg.
In a video message, Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell talked about his relationship with Wahlberg, who played Luttrell in the 2014 movie, “Lone Survivor.” The film dramatizes Luttrell’s experience during a failed counterinsurgency mission in Afghanistan.
“If we had to go back and do it all over again,” Luttrell said in the video, “there wouldn’t be one other person that I would’ve picked to have led the charge in the filming of ‘Lone Survivor’ and bringing this story to the world.”
Wahlberg took the stage amidst a standing ovation, accepting the award from Medal of Honor recipient Paul Bucha.
“I don’t feel worthy to receive this award, but I’m certainly honored and humbled,” Wahlberg said during his acceptance speech. “I will continue to impose my will to make sure that everybody in our community gives (veterans) the love and respect that they deserve.”
CNN anchor and Chief Washington Correspondent Jake Tapper followed Wahlberg to accept the Tex McCreary Award for Excellence in Journalism.
Tapper spoke about his experience writing his 2012 book, “The Outpost,” which examines the deadliest fight of the war on terror in 2009, an assault on a combat outpost. Two of the Medal of Honor recipients in attendance – Ty M. Carter and Clinton L. Romesha – fought in that battle.
“When I was holding Jack, my son, hearing about the eight other sons who were killed the day after he was given to me,” Tapper said, “I wanted to know who they were, and I wanted to know what the other 45 Americans who were there fighting so hard that day, what they went through.”
The next award – The Distinguished Citizen Award – was delivered to broadcast announcer and author David Feherty, a man Sinise declared as “golf’s most irrepressible personality”
Feherty co-founded the Troops First Foundation in 2008 to serve severely wounded soldiers through sports-based initiatives. During his acceptance speech, the Northern Ireland native cited his visits to Iraq and Afghanistan as inspiration for his decision to apply for and obtain his American citizenship.
“Being in this room with people who wear that little sky-blue and that medal is the greatest thrill of my life,” Feherty said. “This is the most extraordinary experience. I will never forget this evening.”
The awards show culminated with the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s Patriot Award, the most distinguished recognition the society offers. The 2014 Patriot Award went to Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for his dissenting opinion on the Stolen Valor Act.
The 2005 law made it a federal misdemeanor to falsely represent oneself as having received any U.S. military decoration or medal, but a 2012 Supreme Court case declared the law unconstitutional on the grounds of free speech.
In his acceptance speech, Alito explained the logic in his dissenting opinion. After noting that it is against the law for street vendors to pass off their fake designer bags as authentic, he posed a rhetorical question to the audience.
“But if there is no First Amendment right to buy a fake Rolex,” Alito said, “why should there be a first amendment right to wear a fake Medal of Honor?”
The 2013 U.S. Congress passed a revised version of the Stolen Valor Act, but Alito avoided speaking on the new law, as it may appear before the Supreme Court.
The gala concluded with the passing of the convention’s flag from this year’s organizers to those organizing the 2015 Convention in Boston.
