Episode 36: Lone Sailor Awardees

In conjunction with The Navy Memorial in Washington DC's Lone Sailor Awards ceremony on Wednesday the 15 of September, we have a very special Midrats. Our guests will be Eddie LaBaron and Lanier Phillips. Though known as four-time Pro-Bowler, quarterback for the Washington Redskins in the 1950s, Tom Landry's first quarterback in Dallas, and Don Meredith's mentor; he was also a USMC lieutenant in the Korean Conflict; decorated with the Purple Heart and awarded the Bronze Star. Our second guest will be a trailblazer for all Sailors. In October of 1941, at the age of eighteen, Lanier joined the Navy. He was a survivor of the February of 1942 sinking of the USS Truxton. He was not just any Sailor though, he later took a step with confidence like he did during the shipwreck that put him in an raft - he asked to be treated as an equal and was the first black Navy sailor to become a sonar technician.