American Legion to Honor Bob Woodruff with National PR Award

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The nation’s largest veterans service organization will be honoring ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff with its highest public relations award during a luncheon at the Hilton Washington DC Hotel Wednesday afternoon.

In a letter to Woodruff, American Legion National Commander James E. Koutz wrote, “You were nominated to receive this honor because of your outstanding career in journalism. Following your traumatic brain injury while covering the Iraq War, your difficult and courageous recovery paved the way to an unselfish commitment to assisting the many U.S. military personnel who were similarly injured by IEDs in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Your devotion to our troops through your foundation provides resources and support to injured servicemembers, veterans and their families – building a movement to empower communities nationwide to take action to successfully reintegrate our nation’s injured heroes—especially those who have sustained the hidden injuries of war back into their communities so they may thrive physically, psychologically, socially and economically.”

Woodruff was co-anchor of ABC’s “World News Tonight” when he was wounded by a roadside bomb near Taji, Iraq on January 29, 2006. In addition to his outstanding reporting about the challenges facing veterans and their families, Woodruff created the nonprofit Bob Woodruff Foundation, which is dedicated to helping wounded veterans recover and readjust into society.

Past recipients of The American Legion National Commander’s Public Relations Award include the late Meet the Press host Tim Russert, entertainer Ben Stein, former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, television commentator Lou Dobbs, and the GI Film Festival.

With a current membership of 2.4-million wartime veterans, The American Legion was founded in 1919 on the four pillars of a strong national security, veterans affairs, Americanism, and youth programs. Legionnaires work for the betterment of their communities through more than 14,000 posts across the nation.

A high resolution photo of Nat. Cmdr. Koutz is available at www.legion.org.