This letter reviews briefly the past two
months (May and June) to tell about some
of the interesting experiences your President
has been through and the turmoil that was created
by the MERS virus that broke out in Korea.
You will recall that I have mentioned in recent letters a
planned trip to Korea for June funded by the Sae Eden
Presbyterian Church. That came to a screeching halt when I
heard on my visit to Washington D.C. for the Memorial Day
Commemoration that ROK President Guen-Hye Park was going to
be in the U.S. at that same time as the trip. Of course, the courteous
and respectful position is for the KWVA President to be a
part of the welcoming committee when she comes to the U.S. for
a visit.
As you might expect, I canceled the Korea trip in favor of the
President’s visit. Then the MERS virus took over in Korea and
her trip was canceled. Shortly after, the Sae Eden trip was called
off because, as the story goes, “the more mature folks” have
lower immune systems and are more likely to catch the virus. So,
it was not a good thing to be in Korea at that time.
The Sae Eden trip was rescheduled for July 25-30 this year.
Several of us who had planned to go could not because of prior
commitments. I understand the ROK President still plans to visit
the U.S., but much later in the year.
Our regular KWVA Revisit trip was also rescheduled to go
with the group that is scheduled for July 25. Warren and Jamie
Wiedhahn of Military Historical Tours have been working at a
hectic pace notifying the 60 veterans and families of the change
and trying to get them rescheduled for the July trip. I am sure this
has been a disappointment to several of our members who
planned to go, but the change really could not be helped. I have
been assured that the virus scare will have passed by mid-July
and everything will be back to normal.
I thought the Memorial Day ceremony was excellent this
year—mostly. National Ceremonies Chairman Tim Whitmore of
CID 191Tidewater [VA], and Ed Reel of CID 313, Shenandoah
Valley [VA], served as the color guard this year, both at the
parade of the flags in the Amphitheater and during the wreath
laying ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknowns and our
Memorial.
At our invitation, ROK Embassy Defense Attaché Major
General Shin and his wife were also there during the program at
the National Cemetery and our Memorial. He took part in the
wreath laying ceremony at both places and made some very
touching comments at the Korean War Memorial.
Executive Director Jim Fisher made arrangements for several
of us to attend the Memorial Day concert. We were seated in the
8th row of the VIP section, not far from the stage. Excellent
seats, and an excellent program, but I was very disappointed
when they mentioned all the recent wars except the one in Korea.
Those of us who were there noticed the omission.
I thought we might be the only ones, but when I returned
home I had two calls on my answering machine saying they had
also noticed it. One of them said it made him “depressed,”
because national programs like that one continue to ignore the
Korean War.
With Jim Fisher’s help I obtained the name and address of the
Executive Producer of the program and wrote him a letter. (See
that letter on p. 10.) It would be a big help if many of you would
write a similar letter to this same address.
I was back in Washington D.C. for the June 25 Republic of
Korea Ceremony at our Memorial. We had an estimated 200 people
there. Every UN country that served in the Korean War was
represented. Representatives from each placed a wreath in honor
of those who died. I represented the KWVA and made remarks,
along with General Shin, ROK Ambassador Ahn Ho Young, U.
S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK), and Assistant Secretary of
Defense David Shear. I was pleased to see several members from
Chapters 100, 142, 312 and 313 there as part of the KWVA representation.
It was a beautiful day, and the total program was very
well done.
We have had a number of questions from members lately
about the KWVA’s interest and relationship with the governmental
agency that is responsible for searching and bringing home
the remains of our troops who were POW/Missing in Action in
Korea. Unfortunately, we have not been a part of the organization
which does this as much as we should have. I think we should be
much more involved in this program. We are trying to rectify
this.
After the ceremony on Thursday, Warren Wiedhahn and I met
with Bruce (“Rocky”) Harder, a former Marine LtCol who has
worked many years with the recovery organization. In that brief
visit I learned a great deal about the success and the difficulties
of efforts in Korea and several other countries in the search for
our missing comrades.
Rocky, who recently joined the KWVA, has agreed to be our
Chairman and Liaison with the DOD POW/MIA Accounting
Agency. In that role he will keep us informed and express our
concerns about what is happening. We are fortunate to have him
working with us; he will be a great asset to the KWVA. We hope
he will be available to meet with us at the July Board meeting.
As President of this organization I receive quite a bit of mail. Some is good, some not so good, when members are upset about
what is going on. I try to respond to most of it, either by return
mail or a phone call if it is particularly interesting.
A few weeks ago I received a letter from Walter Redden of
Jackson, MS, accompanied by an article that appears in this issue
(see p. 23) that he wrote for the Northside Sun newspaper in
Jackson. Once again there is mention of not knowing for many
years that the KWVA existed.
After joining. he found one of his long lost buddies with
whom he had served in Korea. I thought this is another good testimonial
for what we do in our organization and also a wake-up
call for getting the word out that we exist. We will be working on
getting more publicity across the country about our Association.
Thanks to Walter for allowing us to publish his story.
We have finished the Annual Meeting and will shortly (Sept-Oct issue) be making an announcement for the next election
cycle. We will have openings for President, 1st and 2nd Vice
Presidents, and four Directors. Think about it; you may want to
be a part of the leadership group that will help us continue to
move forward.
Larry Kinard, President
Korean War Veterans Association, Inc. (KWVA/US)