CORONADO: A longtime worker at North Island Naval Air Station in Coronado won a major award during the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Navy said.

Horace Hill Jr., a safety inspector for Fleet Readiness Center Southwest, received the Roy Wilkins Meritorious Service Award in Cincinnati on Tuesday. The honor, named for the NAACP's former executive secretary, has been presented annually to a civilian worker for the Navy who exemplifies the values of equality and human rights.

Hill, 54, served 12 years in the Navy and Naval Reserve. He has worked at the fleet readiness center, which maintains and repairs naval aircraft, for more than 30 years.

He also has served as president of the the local chapter of Blacks in Government and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 16. –S.L.