The Charleston RiverDogs and Boeing will host their second Hall of Honor induction ceremony of 2024 prior to Saturday night’s Boeing Military Appreciation Night at The Joe. The ceremony will recognize Retired Lieutenant General Robert G. Thompson and Retired Lieutenant Colonel Larry Dandridge of the Unites States Army.
The Hall of Honor is an integral piece of Boeing and the RiverDogs joint military appreciation platform, which aims to honor and celebrate military families in the Lowcountry through various recognition programs. The team inducted two classes, with two inductees per class, during the first two years of the program. For the first time, in 2022, three classes were inducted into the Hall of Honor. Three more classes, totaling six individuals, will be inducted throughout the 2024 campaign.
At each Boeing Military Appreciation Night, a minimum of two inductees will be enshrined into the Hall of Honor. A community military committee chooses the inductees from a long list of nominees, including many who are nominated through the Hall of Honor’s public nomination link.
All inductees will be recognized on the field on a Military Appreciation Night, and will have their story told on the RiverDogs’ Hall of Honor web site.
The ceremony will take place on the field at The Joe at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 6 prior to that night’s 6:05 first pitch against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. Media members are invited to attend.
About the Inductees
Thompson graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1966 and served in the United States Army for 34 years. He commanded firing batteries in Fort Hood Texas, and in combat during the Vietnam War. He Then became an Army Transportation/logistics officer in 1972.
Following this, he earned an MBA from Syracuse University and graduated from the Army Command and General Staff College. He served four years in key financial management and logistics staff leader positions in the Army’s VII Corps. He then served in the Army Headquarters Staff in the Pentagon and commanded the Army Port Battalion in North Charleston, SC. Upon graduating from the Naval War College with a degree in National Security and Strategic Studies, he became the Staff Chief of logistics, 3rd Infantry Division, then Commander of the 37th Transportation Group supporting over 200,000 military members and their families. His command successfully deployed over 70,000 troops to and from Army Europe to combat during Operation Desert Storm.
He was promoted to Brigadier General in 1991 and was selected for command of the Army Military Traffic command. He completed his career as Deputy Commander of the United States transportation Command, providing peacetime and wartime surface movement and air mobility support for the Department of Defense.
He retired in 2000 and became the Vice President for Operations of the international non-profit Association of the U.S. Army. He also served for 5 years on the Board of Directors of Force Protection, Incorporated. He is a life member of the National Defense Transport Association, the U.S. Army Warrant Officer Association and the Association of the U.S. Army. He and his wife of 52 years, Inga Marie, now live in Mount Pleasant.
Dandridge is a Vietnam-era Wounded Warrior, a combat 100% Disabled veteran, an ex-Army Enlisted Infantryman, an ex-Warrant Officer Attack Helicopter Pilot, and a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel. He served in the active US Army for 24 years and one month, receiving multiple awards including, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, German Silver Cross, the Joint Meritorious Service Medal, five Meritorious Service Medals, 15 Combat Air Medals, and two Army Writer’s Silver Quill Awards. He is also a retired Aerospace Industry Regional Manager and retired highly praised Police Officer.
Dandridge is a past hospice volunteer and he founded, and was the CEO and Board Chairman of, the most successful hospice in Missouri for ten years. Larry is the current Senior Writer and Editor with Tigers, Vikings, and Vipers Publishing, LLC, and a well-known SC advocate and volunteer for military members, veterans, their family members, survivors, and caregivers.
He now serves the SC Lowcountry as a State of SC-VA-American Legion Trained Past Volunteer Veterans Service Officer, the Association of the US Army Coastal SC Chapter VP for Veteran and Retiree Affairs, the Military Officers Association of America, Charleston Chapter VP for Veteran Affairs, a Patient Adviser at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, and a Patient and Family-Centered Care Instructor at the RHJVAMC VA hospital in Charleston, SC. He also writes a widely acclaimed weekly column for the Lowcountry ISLAND NEWS newspaper on veterans’ and military benefits, leadership, hospice, end-of-life planning, aeronautics, and what citizens should know about law enforcement. He and his wife, Judith Ann Dandridge, now enjoy spoiling their grandchildren and their greyhound.
