Capt. John Bunch of St. James City is the owner of GiddyUp Fishing Charters. He and seven others in tourism and allied trades drew cheers from about 350 people attending the celebration at Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa, south of Fort Myers.

Besides Bunch, the highest accolades went to: Christian Rodriguez, Miromar Outlets; Thomas Phelps, Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa; Joan Brichacek, Colonial Bank; Kelley Cowan, Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida; Marina Dowling, BIG Arts; Anthony Prestipino, Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort & Spa; and Terressa Zook, Professional Airline Terminal Services.

This is the sixth year for what's informally known as the "E" Awards. They are named for Elaine McLaughlin, former head of the county visitor bureau. She's a Pine Island resident who keeps a hand in the tourism industry as a consultant.

Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau runs the program, which salutes employees who go beyond the call of duty to make their customers feel good about themselves and happy about being in Southwest Florida.

Bureau leaders are bullish about raising the bar for customer service. According to their research, more than 2 million visitors made a $2 billion impact on Lee County's tourism-based economy last year. Also, more than 40,000 people are employed in Lee directly or indirectly because of tourism, drawing annual wages exceeding $1 billion.

Sponsors for this year's awards are Geraci Travel-Ports of Call Cruises & Tours, The News-Press, SunStream Hotels & Resorts, Exxon Mobil, The Veranda restaurant, Getaway Marina and Key West Express.

"We attempt every year to be the best vacation destination in the world," Lee County Commission Chairwoman Tammy Hall told the ceremony audience, which included many of the nominees and their employers. "Without you, our job would be impossible."

This year, the visitor bureau received 225 nominations for local people representing dozens of businesses.

Applause was frequent at the awards program, which was in a resort ballroom festooned with shiny star and dolphin balloons.

The crowd rose twice for standing ovations — first, for a hospital staffer who threw a princess-themed early-birthday party for a dying 10-year-old girl, and then for Bunch and his guest, Travis Downes, who returned to Lee County this spring from Iraq — his third tour of duty.

Downes was the Army specialist whom Bunch treated to a free fishing trip in 2005. Bunch, a former Marine Corps officer, started calling his fishing and golfing buddies as soon as he returned to the dock with Downes and Downes' dad.

In less than a week, a Web site was up, and nine businesses had enlisted to provide their goods and services free or at deep discount to military people on leave from war-torn areas. Donations were anything from a restaurant meal to a round of golf to a fishing trip. Today dozens of outings and services are available to qualified military people.

"The goal is to make Fort Myers, of all the cities in the United States, welcome these guys with open arms and accept them home," Bunch told The News-Press in April of last year.

Bunch dubbed the effort "Operation Open Arms." From Pine Island, it spread to include all of Lee County by the end of 2005 — and Collier County this year. Organizers hope to bring in Charlotte County-based contributors by next year.

The beneficiaries are active duty military on temporary leave from a foreign duty station, and returning home to Southwest Florida with orders to return to foreign duty after their brief R&R.

"Captain John has given a whole new meaning to the word HOSPITALITY in SW Florida," wrote one of several people nominating him for an "E" Award.

Following the awards program, Bunch gave his card to a local businesswoman, who had services to donate to Operation Open Arms. He tried to deflect some of the attention, praising Capt. Hank Vankesteren of Cape Coral, who not only takes the GIs fishing, but also feeds them during the trip. Afterward, "his wife cooks the fish and the troops lounge at his pool until dinner is ready. That's the kind of people we have," Bunch said.

It's a far different experience than he encountered as a first lieutenant in 1971, when Vietnam conflict protesters spat on his uniform as he walked through a Washington, D.C., airport.

"I swore then that if I could treat U.S. troops better than I was treated that day, I would do it," Bunch said, adding that Operation Open Arms "gave me a chance to keep my promise."