Patriot Award and Past Recipients
In special recognition of many years of service given to the DSDI, the DSDI Patriot Award is given at the discretion of the President-General to recognize the unselfish devotion that inspired our patriot ancestors in their quest for freedom. Each of the recipient’s name will be engraved upon a DSDI Tankard, which will be used by the President-General to propose a toast to the spirit of the DSDI Patriots at a dinner during the Annual Congress. Each recipient will also receive a personalized silver bowl with the DSDI insignia and “DSDI Patriot Award” engraved upon it.
Phil Pyne, President General 1998-2001, initiated the award, and named the first recipient at the 2000 annual meeting. This is mentioned in the November 2001 edition of the Spirit.
The table that follows list those who we know have received this honor:
| Recipient | Meeting Location | Date |
| William Ward IV | Annual Congress, Philadelphia, PA | July 4, 2000 |
| Barbara Ann Megill Kalbfleisch | Fall Meeting, Norwich, CT | October 27, 2001 |
| Grace Keiper Staller | Annual Congress, Philadelphia, PA | July 4, 2004 |
| Rieman McNamara, Jr. | Annual Congress, Philadelphia, PA | July 4, 2006 |
| Fred Pyne | 100th Annual Congress Philadelphia, PA | July 4, 2007 |
| Thomas Guillard Heyward | Williamsburg, VA | March 15, 2008 |
| Jim Alexander | Annual Congress, Philadelphia, PA | July 4, 2010 |
| Thorny Lockwood | Upstate New York | October 7, 2011 |
| Laurie Croft | Annual Congress, Philadelphia, PA | July 4, 2015 |
| Johnny Alexander | 1st Zoom meeting – Annual Philadelphia, PA | July 4, 2020 |
| Shirley Smith | Zoom meeting – Vincennes, IN | May 27, 2022 |
| Gene Mayhew | Annual Congress, Philadelphia, PA | July 4, 2022 |
| Bruce Laubach | Fall Meeting Providence RI | October 19, 2024 |