Erik Woit died in1997.
On Tuesday April 7, 1998 Charleston Marine Containers
Inc held a small dedication ceremony in memorial of Erik P. Woit. David Wall made this speech:
We are here today to honour the late Erik P. Woit and, in his memory, single out a special container built at this new factory for the United States Marine Corps.
Erik was the Sea Containers Senior vice President overseeng all of our company’s north American business activities, including the activity here at Charleston Marine Containers.
A graduate of Allegheny College and Harvard Law School, Erik joined Sea Containers in 1983 after many successful years in private practice in New York and Paris.
I knew Erik when he first came to Sea Containers as we worked together on Sea Containers’ first US manufacturing venture in Chicago. Erik was a true gentleman and a supportive colleague. I appreciated his wisdom and knowledge, and was very happy to get reacquainted with him about a year ago when he had an opportunity to visit CMCI, when we were in the construction phase.
Something that I did not know about Erik back in 1984 was his distinguished career as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. Commissioned in 1957, Erik Woit served his country both here and in Lebanon, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, Cuba and Puerto Rco.
In 1994 the USMC named him as the Corps’ representative for the annual Department of Defense base tour.
Shortly before his death, and for his exemplary military service, his remarkable achievements thereafter, and his adherence to the high principles and leadership qualities of the Corps, Erik P. Woit was honoured on October 17, 1997 as the tenth recipient of the Major-General John H. Russell Leadership Award.
Erik was laid to rest, with full military honours, at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC.
In Erik’s honour, and with the kind cooperation of the Marine Corps, we have attached a special plaque to this container. We hope that the servicemen and women of the United States Marine Corps who use this container in the coming years will see this plaque, and know that those who built this container had remembered a fallen comrade and a fellow marine.
Paraphrased from the original article in SeaCo Newsletter No. 90 of Spring 1998.