FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                               CONTACT:

June 13, 2016                                                                                                                         Chris Cargill (509) 570-2384

SPOKANE – One of the nation’s finest military leaders will be honored at Washington Policy Center’s 2016 Eastern Washington Annual Dinner this fall.

General James N. Mattis, United States Marine Corps (Ret.), the former Commander of United States Central Command (CENTCOM), will receive WPC’s 2016 “Champion of Freedom” award.

The retired Four-Star Marine General will accept the award and address attendees at WPC’s Annual Dinner at the Davenport Grand Hotel in Spokane on Tuesday, September 20^th at 7:00pm.

“We are absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to honor General Mattis,” explained WPC president Dann Mead Smith. “His lifelong service to our nation and dedication to the United States Marine Corps and America’s fighting men and women are an inspiration to us all.”

General Mattis is a Pullman native and Central Washington University graduate. The Marine Corps Times calls him “the most revered Marine in a generation.”

He was appointed commander of CENTCOM by President Barack Obama in 2010. While commander, he was responsible for military operations involving more than 200,000 U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, Coast Guardsmen, and Marines in Afghanistan, Iraq, and 18 other countries in the Middle East and south-central Asia.

He commanded at multiple levels in his forty-two-year career as a Marine, including as a lieutenant colonel in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. On becoming a brigadier general, he commanded first the First Marine Expeditionary Brigade and then Task Force 58 during Operation Enduring Freedom in southern Afghanistan. As a major general, he commanded the First Marine Division during the initial attack and subsequent stability operations – including in Fallujah – during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Tickets for WPC’s Eastern Washington Annual Dinner are available now at washingtonpolicy.org or by calling (509) 570-2384.

The keynote speaker for the 2016 WPC Eastern Washington Annual Dinner will be announced in the coming weeks.

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