Service Members of the Year named for Parris Island, Naval Hospital, MCAS Beaufort
By Mike McCombs
The Island News
Each year, near Veterans Day, the Rotary Club of Beaufort honors Service Members of the Year for the three installations in the Beaufort area – Marine Recruit Depot Parris Island, Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort and Navy Medicine and Training Command Beaufort.
The Club asks for nominations from each of the installations for service members that have made significant contributions to the local community. The Rotary Club of Beaufort selects the winner from each base.
This year’s Rotary Club of Beaufort Service Members of the Year are:
From Marine Recruit Depot Parris Island – USMC 1st Sgt. Willie T. Tompkins
From Navy Medicine and Training Command Beaufort — Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Whitney Gosha.
From Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort — USMC Sgt. Lauren N. Millerbernd.
Tompkins, of New Haven, Conn., is the 1st Sgt. of Romeo Company of the Headquarters and Service Battalion aboard Parris Island.
“I take this award very seriously because everything that I do is about my family, the Marines around me and the community around me,” Tompkins said. “This is not just a testament to [me], this is a testament to all the Marines who are stationed aboard Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. This is for all the behind the scenes work that they do. I am just a face for them, a voice for them. I didn’t do this alone, this is for them.”
Gosha, of Dothan, Ala., has earned the Presidential Volunteer Service Award for more than 200 hours of volunteer service.
“[The award] is an acknowledgment of the hard work we put in,” he said. “Growing up, my mom always told me, ‘you didn’t get here by yourself, so pay it forward.’ And I feel like that’s what I aspire to do all the time is just pay it forward. This just tells me that all that work is acknowledged.”
Millerbernd, of Lexington, Minn., works aboard MCAS Beaufort in the Air Station Fire and Emergency Services and serves an dthe Training NCO for Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron on the Air Station.
“It’s a great honor to be given this award. I’m just going to keep volunteering and giving back to the Beaufort community.”
The service members receive a plaque and a $200 cash award for their recognition.
Mike McCombs is the editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
