Humanitarian Harry McKillop Receives Top Lifetime Achievement Award from Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation
Long-time McKinney Resident Honored at Annual Leatherneck Ball Ceremonies in New York City

May 1, 2008 - Harry McKillop, a long-time resident of McKinney, was presented with the prestigious Globe and Anchor Lifetime Achievement Award by the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation this past weekend in ceremonies in New York. Mr. McKillop was honored for his lifelong commitment to humanitarian service in formal awards presentations highlighting the annual New York Leatherneck Ball.

Sponsored by the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, the annual event honors great Americans for their support of the Marines. Through his heroic work of helping Americans in need all over the world, literally saving their lives and bringing them home, Mr. McKillop was recognized as a model of unselfish dedication to humanitarianism, patriotism, and genuine caring.

Accompanying Mr. McKillop at the ceremonies were his wife, Rebecca, and daughter, Tori, as well as his life-long friend and partner, Ross Perot and his wife, Margot. Mr. Perot introduced Mr. McKillop, calling him “a great American, and a great humanitarian.” Also attending were McKinney Mayor Bill Whitfield and his wife, JoAnn, Mr. McKillop’s son, Wayne and his wife, Mary, McKillop’s sister, Carol McKillop, and his administrative director, Catherine Hughes.

In accepting the honor, Mr. McKillop told the story of how he requested to enter the Marine Corps flight training program in 1942. He did not get a response, and continued what was a meritorious record of service in the Navy during World War II and beyond.

“So it is a special honor for me to be here tonight to receive this award, and to finally hear from the Marines 66 years later,” Harry quipped. “In reality, all that I was able to do for my fellow Americans over the years must be credited to the help I had from so many people supporting the efforts to bring them home. That is quite a reward in itself!”

The New York Leatherneck Ball is the oldest and one of the largest fundraisers for the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation. The Foundation awards needs-based scholarships for higher education to the sons and daughters of Marines who are presently serving or have served in the past. In the 2007-2008 academic year, the MCSF awarded nearly $3.5 million to 1,044 students. Since its inception, in 1962, the MCSF has awarded over $34 million to more than 21,000 deserving young men and women.

As of February 29, 2008, 1,037 Marines and Navy Corpsmen have been killed in the war on terror, leaving behind 376 children.

Also in attendance at the New York Leatherneck Ball were notables such as: Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients Nick Oresco and Jack Jacobs, Iwo Jima survivors, several Wounded Warriors, Lt. General George Trautman, III the Deputy Commandant for Aviation, Ross Perot, New York Giants coaches Mike Waufle and Kevin Gilbride, and, of course, Marines and their families.

The New York Leatherneck Ball is affiliated with the four star charity, Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, a 501c(3) organization.

Over the decades, Mr. McKillop has undertaken extraordinary, complex projects and missions to find Americans either captured or “lost” as POWs and MIAs, or men, women and children stolen and imprisoned in foreign lands for a variety of reasons and circumstances. His role in each of these efforts was pivotal – absolutely critical to the launch and completion of the mission. As those who participated in these ventures with Mr. McKillop will attest, it was his personal dedication, personal sacrifice, raw courage and never-give-up determination that made the difference between success and failure.

Harry McKillop, while never seeking credit for his work, has forged better, happier and more honorable endings to many chapters of American history. Harry McKillop is an individual, an American citizen and patriot, who has worked and sacrificed all his life to help fellow Americans and their supporters who were in peril and danger around the world. Without personal reward, Harry McKillop has enriched the lives of hundreds of Americans doomed to endless incarceration and death. Without political agendas, Harry McKillop has softened political barriers between nations in the name of humanity, and for the good of America. And finally, seldom in our history has there been an American citizen like Harry McKillop, who was never a public servant but contributed so much to public service.

In 2003, The Harry McKillop Irish Spirit Award was established to honor the life and work of Mr. McKillop, whose lifelong commitment to principle and “Irish Spirit” values has fuelled his dedication to helping people and saving lives. Each year the award is given to a person of Irish or Irish-American descent, selected by the Award’s Trustees, the Ireland Funds and the Dublin and Belfast Chambers of Commerce for the individual’s extraordinary acts of humanitarianism.

For Additional Information Contact:
Joe McNamara
972-577-6165

Catherine Hughes
214 213-5786