Military.com reports that “The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff paid Bonnie Carroll one of the highest compliments he knew: He compared her to a Marine.”  

“Speaking Tuesday night at a Washington, D.C., reception in honor of the founder of Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford quoted President Ronald Reagan when he said, “Some people live a lifetime and wonder if they’ve made a difference. United States Marines don’t have that problem.”  

“Dunford added, ‘With apologies to Ronald Reagan tonight, I’d like to paraphrase that … Bonnie Carroll doesn’t have that problem.'”  

“Carroll received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, at the White House on Nov. 25. A retired Air Force Reserve officer and the widow of Army National Guard Brig. Gen. Tom Carroll, she founded TAPS after the tragic death of her husband in a C-12 plane crash in 1992.”