MIDDLETOWN — A respiratory therapist at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown was recently given the Clinton-based Society of 40 Men and 8 Horses “Grand Award” for her work with patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jennifer McLeod was honored Tuesday at the Crescent Street facility. “The 2021 recipient has worked diligently during the pandemic,” Grand Correspondent Frazier Brinley of Clinton said in a press release.
The 40/8 award is given to a veteran or a member of a veteran’s family who best describes the phrase “For God, Country and Family,” according to the news release.
The 40/8 is the Honor Society of American Veterans begun in 1921, Brinley said, after U.S. doughboys returned home from WWI. The 40/8 symbol means that a French boxcar could hold either 40 men or 8 horses, Brinley said in the statement.
The 40/8 is an independent, invitation only, honor society of American veterans and service members. “These are the leaders and hard-working veterans of Connecticut,” he said.
The Grand Award is given to a member of a veteran’s family who best describes the phrase “For God, Country and Family.”
“Jennifer … represents so many technicians, nurses, nurses aides, and volunteers on the front line during the pandemic. Their willingness to be there is unselfish and heroic,” Brinley said in the prepared statement.
This year, the club also handed out three Pillar In the Community Service awards to the American Legion Post 209 in the Forestville section of Bristol, state Sen. and physician Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor; and Carter Sutherland of Carter Cares, Inc., in South Windsor.
The 40/8 is a small organization, Brinley said. In Connecticut, there are 112 members, and Middlesex County has the most, with 35.
