December 29, 2004

Friends and Members of KWVA-

Almost two months ago Jeff Brodeur, a KWVA Member and the Commander of the Korea Veterans of America (KVA, www.koreaveterans.org ), and I met and decided that all veterans of Korea needed to rally to extend and preserve the heritage of the sacrifices of the Korean War.

We jointly authored an article for The Graybeards, which is in the issue now being mailed to members. This update shares that article on the internet. Because the copy for The Graybeards had to be submitted well in advance, what follows is updated and expanded in some respects to what you will see in the magazine.

We invite you to read and realize that great days are ahead for the Korean veterans of our Nation if they will work together to achieve it—just like we did for the Monument.

President, KWVA

VETERANS HONORING AND TAKING CARE OF VETERANS
Two leaders of veteran’s organizations
forming a federation to work for all Korea-related veterans

Front Rank(L-R): VFW Honor Guard Raymond Glock, KWVA President Lou Dechert, and Ronald E. Kitchen (Click picture for a larger view)

The picture above was taken after the conclusion of the public ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on November 11, 2004. Each organization added an organizational wreath to the one placed by the Commander-in-Chief to begin the day’s ceremonies (pictured elsewhere). The VFW provided the National Honor Guard for the ceremonies. The man to my right in the picture is KWVA Maryland Chapter Color Guard Captain and Sgt-at-Arms Raymond Glock, who also serves on this highly honored VFW National Honor Guard. The rank just behind ours in the photo is the Korean War Ex-POW group, which I met for the first time. Past National President Harley Coon took this photo and kindly provided me with a copy.

November 11th began at about 0430 hours as members and organizational representatives of the VDNC (Veterans Day National Committee) made their various ways to centralized bus points for security and then transportation to the White House where The President hosted the group for breakfast—probably 300 arrived by buses to join government members already assembled.

After breakfast and a picture taking with The President, the groups were bused to Arlington National Cemetery for the ceremonies. After the ceremonies—which I hope many of you were able to watch on TV—the organizational wreaths are placed, one by one. Then participants must somehow get back to the places where they had earlier assembled before dawn, get their cars, etc., and proceed to a reception hosted on a rotating basis by one of the VDNC member organizations. The overall host for 2004 was the Non Commissioned Officers Association of the USA, whose National President is Gene Overstreet. He was announced as having been the first Sergeant Major of the USMC. The NCO Association provided an outstanding reception, which will be hard to beat in future years.

I have gone into some detail about the Veterans Day 2004 honors and events so that you can get an idea of the high privilege that it was for me to represent the KWVA this year. I am certain that previous presidents of our association felt the same sense of honor and privilege as I did on Veterans Day.

President and Commander-in-Chief George W Bush arrives to present National Wreath Arlington National Cemetery, November 11, 2004 (Click picture for a larger view)

I want to tell you of an even GREATER sense of honor and privilege—even choking up in awe—on your behalf. It happened in early October as I was talking with a young man, a non-veteran, who had attended our Convention in Knoxville. He said that he will never forget the opening ceremony to our Annual Meeting, September 24th, as together we saluted and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. “The Pledge of Allegiance really didn’t mean that much to me until that moment,” he said, “as all of you put aside your problems and united in the Pledge. That was something real; it was important! It is what veterans are all about!”

I choked up, friends. Yes, it is what we are supposed to be about—America, her history and heritage, her future. What an honor to us that for all of our organizational wounds, we were able for a moment to impress an “outsider” that this is what it is all about! I am prouder of that singular evaluation than I am about Washington’s pomp and ceremony, great as it was at Arlington on Veterans Day, 2004.

Great days are ahead for the KWVA! The Gen Stilwell Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation is planning great things coming up!—things that will cost effort and money, just like when it was built. The cause of putting the names on The Memorial will be announced and pushed. Improved lighting will be installed. A traveling Memorial will be planned and fund raising pursued. And of course the perpetual maintenance is a constant responsibility which we need to support. The Korean War Veterans Association will again be on the point, helping to lead the way in accomplishing these objectives. It is important that we do these things so that the US Korean War and Korean Service Veterans are a recognizable part of the US veteran population—rather than an after-thought, tacked on when someone happens to think about it.

But more than this, my brother and sister members, we will not be alone. Steps and actions are being taken to include all veterans of Korea in our cause so that the monument will become the heritage of succeeding generations of Korea Veterans instead of dying with our generation. In Washington on Veterans Day I had the distinct opportunity of discussing a new concept with Commander Jeff Brodeur of the dynamic new Korea Veterans of America. Jeff is a member of the KWVA and has been a member of the KDVA. Because of his unique abilities I have appointed Jeff the KWVA Liaison Officer to the KVA.

Jeff and I both believe that the real cause of the Korean War Veterans in this Nation—to pass on the Korean War ethos and history, and that of the Americans and others who endured and fought it, in such a way that no American will ever forget it—can only be attained by the efforts and unity of all of us. There are many reasons why we have several different Korean War-related organizations today: KWVA, KDVA, KVA, KW Ex-POW, US Korea 2000 Foundation, KW Veterans Memorial Foundation, Chosen Few, to name a few. And there will always be many organizations because no group wants to give up their identity and distinctiveness to merge with another—and they should not be required to do so.  Having said this, however, we must all realize that THE KOREAN WAR NEVER ENDED—IT IS AMERICA’S LONGEST WAR. The US government recently inadvertently acknowledged this fact when a service (campaign) medal was awarded for service in Korea from 1954 until a date to yet be determined; further, the Department of Defense is issuing Cold War Certificates to those who apply.

Korean War veterans had long complained of being “The Forgotten War.” It occurs to me that we contributed to that forgetfulness by agreeing—even if only by our silence—that the war ended on some certain day over fifty years ago. It did not and has not done so; the war continues to this hour. One fact implicit in understanding this fact is that there are now nearly 5,000,000 Korean War Veterans—whatever we call them—rather than the limited numbers of aged and dying veterans who were there on New Year’s Day, 1954, or earlier. The Korean War Veterans Memorial is just as much “theirs” as it is “ours.” They will come to honor the hallowed site in D.C., just as much as we do, thus insuring the future perpetuation of the legacy of the Korean War—America’s longest war, one which has never ended.

Jeff and I were convinced that what works internationally in the International Federation of Korean War Veterans Associations (IFKWVA, in Seoul) can also work here in the United States. We jointly founded and incorporated the United States Federation of Korea Veterans Organizations (USFKVO). All organizations willing to join in the cause of the Korean War Veterans as described above will be welcomed to join, as equals, in the task. No one gives up anything and we all gain manpower to carry out our common overriding mission. You will be hearing more of the United States Federation of Korea Veterans Organizations (USFKVO) as we move ahead. The KWVA Executive Council will be asked to commit our association to join when they meet in March, next year. Jeff’s Board had already committed to the Federation last month before I could get home from Washington!

Jeff has already had a logo and patch for the USFKVO designed and patented. Early in 2005 we will be making some announcements concerning a success already underway in uniting Korean War Veterans.

In a similar vein, the US Korea 2000 Foundation, which has served us so well for much of a decade, intends to reorganize and rename itself for the same purposes and along the same lines as I discussed for the USFKVO. The new organization will be a means whereby ALL Korea-related organizations can, if they desire, join in mutual efforts for the overall good of all of our orders. The new name of the US Korea 2000 Foundation is proposed to be: General Ray Davis US-Korea Veterans Heritage Foundation. It will spearhead many of the activities coming up for the US Korean Veteran communities across the country, interfacing with the Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation.

Many years ago the Association of the US Army (AUSA) began urging the upgrading and updating of the Army. This has grown into what is now often termed “Transformation of the Army.” The campaign began with the defiant rally call “NO MORE TASK FORCE SMITHS.” The reference was the disastrous sacrifice of the brave men who first faced communist armed aggression in the Cold War in Korea. It was wrong to allow the training and equipment of our Army forces to be neglected to the point that they could not fight and win on the battlefield.

My friends, on November 10th in Washington, DC, I was also privileged to attend the Pre-opening gala at the Smithsonian Institute in honor of the $22 million permanent exhibit The Price of Freedom—Americans at War. Some of you may have watched the TV special on the exhibit. The exhibit is a grand assemblage of artifacts from our wars—for example General George Washington’s uniform and personal “kit.” But what this grand exhibition of Americans at War was lacking was the Korean War! In the exhibit the war in which so many fought and died, the war which created thousands of MIA and POW, and the war that has never ended—fifty-four years now—is only noted as a footnote to the Cold War.

In the vast exhibit area of several thousand square feet, there is a small walk-through area between the WWII and Vietnam exhibits which is designated the Cold War, and within that section only slight space and exhibits of the Korean War. Several veterans have called me about this slight—in their view and my own. At a meeting of several members of the General Ray Davis US-Korea Veterans Heritage Foundation the afternoon of November 12th the same concern was expressed.

How did this “slight” happen and how can we correct it?  Moreover, why is ignorance of the Korean War so widespread in the United States? It happened because the millions of US servicemen and women who have served in the Korean War, 1950-2004 and still going on, sat around arguing about dates of service, medals—who should get them and who should not—DD215, graybeards versus fuzzy cheeks (and never mind the women who served), who gets credit for building The Memorial, and on, and on! My brothers and sisters, in our concentration on gripes, fighting, turf guarding and the like we allowed the public education about the Korean War to be taken over by folks who have never been to Korea and whose service—if any—was in more recent and highly publicized military operations, most notably the Vietnam War, Desert Storm, and the current War on Terror. We had no unified voice of Korean War and Korean Defense Veterans so bureaucrats, more often than not well intentioned, filled the void. Thus, we allowed the history and heritage of the incredible hardships which we overcame in Korea, in battle, and in the ceasefire we have enforced for over fifty years, to become only a footnote of American military history!

No more, friends, no more!  The US Korean War and Korean Service Veterans are determined to become a recognizable part of the US veteran population—rather than an after-thought, tacked on when someone happens to think about us.

Great days ahead!

President, KWVA
(Click HERE for a brief bio)

President Lou Dechert, KWVA and Commander Jeff Brodeur, KVA Arlington National Cemetery, November 11, 2004 (Click picture for a larger view)

Guest Message...

From Commander Jeff Brodeur,
Korea Veterans of America

During Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery, KWVA President Lou Dechert and I discussed unity and solidarity among Korea Veterans Organizations. We came to a consensus of forming the United States Federation of Korea Veterans Organizations (USFKVO). There are many Korea Veterans organizations and somehow we need to stay united for our survival and to carry on the sacrifices and legacy made by American Veterans who have served in defense of the Korean Peninsula. The active fighting of the Korean War was 3 years (1950-1953); yet more American Veterans lost their lives in those 3 years than in 15 years of the Vietnam War. The Korean War was known as the ''Forgotten War." The Post War is known as the “Forgotten War of the Forgotten War.”

Korea Veterans of America and the Korean War Veterans Association have to never forget the sacrifices of the American Serviceman in defense of the Korean Peninsula. By forming the USFKVO, these sacrifices and the legacy of Korea will be carried on for generations. America has had a presence on the Korean Peninsula for almost 60 years. We as veterans who served in Korea must unify in some aspects to carry forward the legacy of the Korean War and its aftermath. There is a golden opportunity now, as post war veterans are now getting the KDSM officially noted on their DD215, to unify as brothers who served in Defense of the Korean Peninsula. With this new recognition, post war veterans feel closer than ever to their Korean War Veteran brothers. This was never more evident than on November 11, 2004, at Arlington National Cemetery when two generations of Korea Veterans were brought together as one.

We as Korea Veterans deserve a place at the table as much as any other veterans service organization. The USFKVO will give us a place at that table as one voice representing all the cooperating Korea Veterans Organizations. Each cooperating organization will keep it’s identity but will have an equal say in what is done for the good of all Korea-related activities. Korea Veterans of America is excited with this new opportunity and partnership with the Korean War Veterans Association in creating this new unified Korea Veterans Federation for the sake of unity, solidarity, and to carry on the legacy of the Korean War.

KWVA President Dechert and I have discussed this at length and feel that with the Korean War Veterans getting older, it is now or never to make this happen. We want to seize the opportunity now. Even while we are conferring, world-renowned artist Don Struhar, who created the first Super Bowl ring and the official Florida KWVA state patch, is now creating the historic United States Federation of Korea Veterans Organizations patch. Don is also a KWVA and KVA member. He is excited about this opportunity of being part of history. This is a journey we can all join and be a part of.

Commander Jeff Brodeur
Korea Veterans of America
(Click HERE for a brief bio)

(Click for a larger view)

 Logo and Insignia of the USFKVO