Stand & Salute American Heroes to Honor WWII Veteran at Tampa Bay Rays Game on September 10th

Sept. 5, 2011 - PRLog -- Sunshine Roth, National Director of Events and Community Liaison for SASAH, has announced that it has selected a WWII Combat Wounded Purple Heart recipient from Clearwater, Florida to receive the 40th Stand & Salute American Heroes Award.  

The ceremony will take place at Tropicana Field in Saint Petersburg, Florida.  The Tampa Bay Rays take on the Boston Red Sox.  (LTJG) Frank L. Spatuzzi will be recognized with an on-field presentation of the SASAH Award Honor Bat.  

This will be the first time that someone from the Coast Guard has been awarded the Stand & Salute America Hero Award. Before his service in World War II, Frank Spatuzzi was on track to play professional baseball.  At the age of 19, Frank graduated with a bachelor's degree and by the age of 21, Frank not only had a Masters degree from Seton Hall University, but also a college baseball batting average well over 400.

Frank entered the US Coast Guard Academy, in New London, CT., as a Cadet in November of 1942.  Frank graduated as an Ensign in March of 1943, and was then assigned to NYC as Recreation and Morale Officer to 2500 men until March of 1944. Assigned to the LST 205 in Long Beach, Ca., for duty in the South Pacific with his home base at Pearl Harbor.  There he participated on D-Day Invasions in Saipan and Tinian through June of 1944.

In October 1944, they went to Mindoro twice, moving equipment, until December 29th when they were hit by an explosion by a suicide plane aboard their ship, the LST 205.  Frank was the only one injured and was taken from the ship on December 30th, 1944.  Frank spent almost 2 years in hospitals and in June 1946, Frank received a Purple Heart and also retired from the Coast Guard.

Ms. Roth stated that since February of this year, this has been in the works to honor (LTJG) Frank Spatuzzi.  The staff's appreciation regarding the support of the Tampa Bay Rays, saying, "Shannon Lapsley, who is the Coordinator, Community Relations person with the Tampa Bay Rays has shown that the Tampa Bay Rays to be an organization of true class."  It has been a pleasure to coordinate this with Shannon.

Our "Boots On The Ground" for this event will be Captain John Turner, Commanding Officer of the Air Station at Clearwater and Master Chief John Milbrandt and HSCS Michael Aviles of the Health Services Work Life (HSWL).  They will be escorting Frank and his wife on the field for the event in uniform.  There (LTJG) Frank Spatuzzi will throw out the first pitch of the game and receive a bat that has been made for Frank by Phoenix Bats.  Our "Boots On The Ground" stated that it is "Humble to serve those, whom have served our Nation."

For those desiring to attend this honor event on September 10th, please contact the Tampa Bay Rays ticket office at 1-888-FAN-RAYS or visit www.ourheroesjourney.com for additional details.  You may also email sasah218@gmail.com for more information on how to honor a combat wounded veteran.

Stand & Salute American Heroes falls under the parent program of "Our Fallen Soldier" which is a 501 (c) 3 Organization and also supports Our Heroes Journey a major program supporting active Military Units.  Stand & Salute American Heroes will continue honoring our combat wounded and fallen, one hero at a time throughout the 2011/2012 season.  Details will be released for future honor events in the upcoming weeks.  Stand & Salute American Heroes salutes The United States Armed Forces for defending our freedom.