Contact
The OSS Society, Inc.
7700 Leesburg Pike, #324
Falls Church, VA 22043
703-356-6667
oss@osssociety.org
Where
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel
1150 22nd Street NW
Washington, DC 20037
202-835-0500
800-241-3333 (reservations)
2013 William J. Donovan Award® Dinner
"If you define leadership as having a vision for an organization, and the ability to attract, motivate and guide followers to fulfill that vision, you have Bill Donovan in spades."
- Fisher Howe, Special Assisant to General Donovan
"The OSS was an organization designed to do great things."
- Professor E. Bruce Reynolds
"You can't succeed without taking chances."
"You can't succeed without taking chances."
- General William J. Donovan
Please join the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Society for the presentation of the William J. Donovan Award® to Admiral William H. McRaven USN, Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), in Washington, DC, on October 26, 2013. Prior to assuming command of USSOCOM in August 2011, Admiral McRaven served as commander of the Joint Special Operations Command and Special Operations Command Europe. He led Operation Neptune Spear, the special operations raid that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. In addition to honoring Admiral McRaven, we will also honor veterans of OSS and members of its successor organizations: the Central Intelligence Agency and USSOCOM.
We will have a special musical tribute to Hollywood legend Marlene Dietrich who served the OSS during World War II by recording songs for its Morale Operations Branch. Maria Riva, Marlene Dietrich's daughter, will offer a toast to her mother. We will commemorate the liberation of the Hotel Ritz in Paris by Ernest Hemingway, Col. David Bruce, and members of the French Resistance. When they arrived at the Hotel Ritz shorty after the Nazis had fled the hotel, the manager asked Hemingway if there was anything he could do for them. Hemingway said: "How about 75 dry martinis?"
In his memoir "OSS Against the Reich," Col. David Bruce recalled that the Ritz's bartender had left the hotel and the martinis were not very good.To avoid this happening again, the OSS Society has invited Colin Field - the head bartender at the Hotel Ritz, founder of its legendary Hemingway Bar, and the world's greatest bartender according to Forbes - to offer a martini toast to Ambassador Bruce, Hemingway and his son, John Hemingway, who served in the OSS and parachuted behind Nazi lines into France. Marlene Dietrich and Ernest Hemingway met while crossing the Atlantic in 1934 and remained good friends until the author's death in 1961.
You may purchase tickets by clicking on the "register now" button below. (Once you've registered, you will receive a confirmation by email.) However, if you or your company would like to serve as a sponsor of this event, please click on this link to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.
We have reserved a limited number of rooms at a reduced rate at two hotels: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, 1150 22nd Street NW, and the Washington Marriott, 1221 22nd Street NW. To reserve a room at the Ritz-Carlton for $349/night, call 800-241-3333 by October 2, 2013, and mention "OSS Society." Reservations can also be
made online at the following website: www.ritzcarlton.com/washingtondc. Please use the following code when making your reservation online: OSSOSSB.
To reserve a room at the Marriott for $169/night, call 800-228-9290 by September 27, 2013, and mention the following code: OSSOSSA. Dress for the evening is Black Tie Preferred or Mess Dress.
Thank you for your support of The OSS Society, a nonprofit organization that celebrates the historic accomplishments of OSS and its founder, General William "Wild Bill" Donovan, and educates the American public about the importance of strategic intelligence and special operations to the preservation of freedom.
If you would like to become a member of the OSS Society, please fill out our membership application form. When you join, you'll receive an OSS Society identification card that is a replica of an original OSS ID card with General Donovan's picture and signature, and our acclaimed publication, The OSS Society Journal.
The OSS Society would like to thank the following corporate sponsors for their generous support:
The Arkin Group
William and Sophia Casey Foundation
Eugene M. Cummings, P.C.
Eugene M. Cummings, P.C.
Colorado Engineering
DynCorp International
Ellis Family Charitable Trust
EWA Government Systems
Ellis Family Charitable Trust
EWA Government Systems
Fluor Federal Services
Freeman and Webb
GE Aviation
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems
General Dynamics
General Dynamics
The Georgetown Group
W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc.
Imperatis
Intrado
IOMAXIS
IOMAXIS
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Kriss USA
L-3 Communications
LaserMax
Kriss USA
L-3 Communications
LaserMax
Leidos
Lockheed Martin
McLarty Associates
Lockheed Martin
McLarty Associates
National World War II Museum
Northrup Grumman
Patriot Defense Group
Paradigm SRP
Erik Prince
Raytheon
Sierra Nevada Corporation
Sikorsky
SRA International
The Starr Foundation
Tawani Foundation
Technical Management Systems Corporation
SRA International
The Starr Foundation
Tawani Foundation
Technical Management Systems Corporation
Vanguard Consulting Group
Veterans Business Transformation
WBB
William J. Donovan Award is a registered trademark of The OSS Society, Inc.
