Recruit Honor Grad Awarded
"Chesty" Puller's legacy of leadership continues to inspire today's generations of new Marine recruits.
The Marine Corps Association & Foundation provides the "Chesty" Puller Recruit Company Honor Graduate Award for each graduating company at the Parris Island and San Diego Recruit Depots.
LCpl Andrew Peal was recognized with the award at the March 8, 2013 Company Kilo graduation for 3d Recruit Training Battalion, Marine Corps Recruiting Depot San Diego.
The "Chesty" Puller Recruit Company Honor Graduate Award is presented to the Marine of each graduating company who demonstrated the highest potential for future leadership and responsibility in the Marine Corps. Approximately 90 recruit training companies graduate each year and one recruit honor graduate is selected from each company.
LtGen Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller was one of the most decorated U.S. Marines in history, and is the only Marine to be awarded five Navy Crosses. He received the nation's second highest military decoration a total of six times, and in addition to the five Navy Crosses he was also awarded the United States Army Distinguished Service Cross.
The "Chesty" Puller Recruit Company Honor Graduate Award, other honor graduate awards and awards for all the Marine Corps' formal schools are presented through the MCA&F Marine Excellence Awards Program. Each year MCA&F gives awards to recognize nearly 11,000 deserving Marines and provides about 97 percent of all awards distributed in the Corps outside the USMC awards system.

LCpl Andrew Peal, center, recipient of the "Chesty" Puller Recruit Company Honor Graduate Award is pictured with his Senior Drill Instructor, SSgt Joseph C. Dodson, left, and his recruiter, Sgt Nathaniel D. Holmes.
Photo credit by LCpl Justin A. Fisher.

The "Chesty" Puller Recruit Company Honor Graduate
Award.
Photo credit by Ron Lunn
Member Oorahs!
Ms. Pappas,
Congratulations. You are more responsive and informative than any other website contact I can recall. I appreciate that very much. It’s really nice to have someone like you at the MCA “front door.”
Sincerely, Alfred
My Name is Sergeant Major Juan. M. Hidalgo, Sergeant Major of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) out of Camp Pendleton, CA. Sergeant Major (Ret.) Frank Pulley is one of my mentors and is someone that I have a tremendous amount of respect for. The MCA and SgtMaj Pulley do a phenomenal job in helping us recognize our Marines and Sailors and they continually demonstrate that they are always more than ready to support; anytime...Anyplace! And on behalf of the entire 13th MEU, I thank you very much!
Thanks for the email; I purchased the two Marine Corps. Cups for my brother who served with the First Marine Div. in Vietnam . He was very pleased with the cups and I was very impressed with the purchase. The online catalog did not do the product the justice it deserved. Thanks again and I am sure you will hear from me in the future.
Ma’am,
Just wanted to let you know that I got the sword yesterday with time to spare. It showed up unscathed due to the excellent packing job despite the rough postal process. And most importantly it looks great and the Bahraini’s couldn’t be happier! Thanks again for all of your assistance.
R/S
Major Wayne Phelps
3d LAAD Bn XO
Security Force, Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan
I received my blouse last Friday and want to thank you for your efforts
in getting things done. Also, please thank the tailors involved in
making everything right and please give my sincere thanks to those who
made the decision to make the necessary corrections at no charge to me.
That in itself says a lot about your organization. The blouse fits
like a glove and actually looks and feels like new.
Thank you and all the staff who had a hand in correcting a problem and making an old man happy. Semper Fi
Sincerely,
Jessica,
Thank you so much for taking the extra time and making the extra effort
to ship another hat to me for my husband last week. The second hat
arrived last Thursday... and he was tickled with it. Although it may be
"only a hat" it is a very special hat in many ways. He will always be a
proud Marine dad, and your kindness is very much appreciated.
I wanted to take a moment and thank everyone at the association for sponsoring the Ground Awards Dinner on 3 June at the Crystal City Marriott. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and were tremendously pleased with the hospitality shown to us and the great accommodations. As well, I wanted to thank the association for the DVD of the event that was mailed to me. It is something that I will keep and treasure for the rest of my days. Again, thanks for everything.
Semper Fidelis!
I want to relay my many thanks to everyone at Marine Corps Association and Military Historical Tours for providing me the opportunity to experience such a wonderful trip to Russia. Had I not won this trip through MCA I may have never taken advantage of such fantastic travels. The group, the Russian Tour guide (Oleg Alexandrov) and Charlie Dunn were wonderful companions during the trip. It will be a memory I will cherish all of my remaing days on this earth.
Again, Many thanks and Semper Fidelis!
I received them this morning. Thank you so much for your help! you guys are awesome and you will have my business for any uniform or military need in the future as well as a hearty recommendation via word of mouth to anyone who wonders where they should purchase uniforms from!
Just a quick note of thanks to Patty Everett. I arrived home from a week vacation to find a package from the Marine Corps Association. I was expecting to find one of the magazines I requested, however, I was pleasantly surprised to discover both magazines were inside. In a time when it seems no one cares about customer satisfaction I am gratified to discover that customer service is not a lost art at the MCA. Once again I thank you for your efforts on my request. It may have been thing but the effort made a huge impression.
Related Content
- Chesty Puller Awardees (Page)
- A Legend Come to Life (Page)
- Chesty Puller (Magazine Page)
- Chesty Puller Statue Dedication Ceremony (Event)
- Marine Corps Association & Foundation: Advancing Leadership and Recognizing Excellence (Article)


Comments
We called it the Puller crawl
At Camp Pendalton in 51 the crawl was a 20 mile hike in those days full marching pack filled with sand (wet) at 15 mile an easy double time for the last 5 mile see who is the last standing ? GUESS WHAT he was there.