Will Present Veterans With Replica Congressional Gold Medals

On May 15 Sunoco, Inc. and Sunoco Logistics will honor Civil Air Patrol veterans from the Philadelphia area with replica Congressional Gold Medals for their service during World War II.

The event, which will take place at Sunoco Logistics’ Marcus Hook Industrial Complex, will begin at 9:30 a.m. with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Seamen’s Memorial, which features a bronze statue, dedicated in 1949, of a Sun Oil seaman looking out to sea. The memorial was erected in remembrance of the 141 Sun Oil mariners killed in World War II. The Congressional Gold Medals will be presented at a luncheon immediately following the wreath-laying ceremony at Lia’s Catering/IBEW Banquet Hall.

CAP was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal – the nation’s highest civilian honor – on Dec. 10, 2014, at the U.S. Capitol. The award recognizes the service of the organization’s founding members in protecting the homeland, especially oil tankers and their crews, against deadly U-boat attacks, and its success in fulfilling a long list of other wartime needs. 

Among those to be honored will be one of Sun Oil’s very own, the late William D. Mason. He was a Sun Oil executive and Civil Air Patrol member, who was a driving force behind establishment and funding of the first CAP coastal patrol missions along the Eastern Seaboard.

Other CAP members recognized will include Herbert Appleton of Audubon, Pa., Benjamin Dyner of Philadelphia, Samuel James Guthrie of Claymont, Del., and Walter Nicholai (deceased) of Narberth, Pa.

Sunoco Logistics and Sunoco, Inc., both headquartered in Philadelphia, Pa., each traces its roots to Sun Oil, founded in 1886 in Lima, Ohio.

Mason oversaw Sun’s Marcus Hook refinery for 16 years and in wartime directed the Petroleum Administration for War’s Facility Security Division.

As a member of the newly created organization of civilian fliers desperate to do something to help with the war, Mason convinced his boss, Sun Oil President J. Howard Pew, to contribute the first $10,000 to build CAP bases in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. CAP’s anti-sub mission was set in motion, and other oil companies joined in to fund the effort. CAP’s rapid success in preventing oil tanker attacks allowed the bases to spread from Maine to Mexico.

(Images from file)

FMI: www.gocivilairpatrol.com