The most significant event that has
occurred since my last letter was our July
22-27 Annual Board and Membership
Meeting in Washington D.C. Overall, I think
we had good attendance, good participation, and an enjoyable
experience for all who attended.
I was especially pleased and impressed with the ”Calling of the
Names” of the KIA that took place at our Memorial beginning on
Friday and ending Sunday at noon. Colonel (Ret.) Bill Weber and
his crew did a masterful job of organizing and executing what I
felt was an inspiring tribute to our fallen comrades.
Colonel (Ret.) Rick Dean and Executive Director Jim Fisher
had a big hand in making both the annual meeting and the ceremony
at the Memorial a memorable event.
This meeting was considered somewhat of an international
event because of the attendance of several of our Canadian friends
and members of the Korean National Assembly, who were here
for the first time. We were delighted to have Senator Yonah
Martin of the Canadian Senate here with us for several days and
honored to have her speak to us at the Memorial Commemoration.
She is very charming and a strong supporter of Korean veterans.
We would welcome her back to visit with us any time.
In this issue you will find the minutes of both the Board and
Membership meetings and also an excellent write up by Fred
Lash, a new addition to the KWVA staff. Secretary Lew Ewing
has done a great job of summarizing the minutes. I encourage you
to read through them to get a full understanding of what took
place. You can see that one of the Board actions was to employ
Mr. Lash, who has an extensive background as a professional PR
person and is working with us on a trial basis to help us get the
word out about the KWVA.
I can’t go into much detail here, but I ask you to please notice
the discussion on important changes in the By-Laws and the visit
with the Board by General (Ret.) Walter Sharp and General Shin,
ROK Defense Attaché. One of the things I am very proud of is
having Bruce “Rocky” Harder on board as our POW/MIA
Coordinator. His background is perfectly suited to our needs and
will be a huge help to us with the reorganized Defense POW/MIA
Accounting Agency under new Director General (Ret.) Michael
Linnington. We have needed more involvement with this agency
for a long time.
Executive Director Jim Fisher served as MC for the Saturday
night banquet, which came off without a hitch. We had the first
presentation of ten Korean War Descendant scholarships funded
by Chairman Jung Hoon Kim’s American Veterans Of The
Korean War Foundation. (Please note the discussion by
Committee Chairman Lew Ewing of this part of the program in
this issue.)
We presented Honorary Life Memberships, along with a beautifully
framed tile of our Memorial, to Dr. Moon Kim and his wife
and Chairman By Park of PNS Networks in Korea. Dr. Kim has
long been a strong supporter of the Korean War veterans, especially
those in the Minnesota area. Every year he sponsors fifteen
scholarships for descendants of Korean War veterans and hosts a
huge picnic in the Minneapolis vicinity for the veterans there.
Chairman Park, who has been a very generous donor in the
past, represented by local attorney Hae-Chan Park, presented us
with a $10,000 check. We appreciated the donation and were disappointed
that CEO By Park could not attend.
We were also honored with another generous gift, $1,000 in
cash, given by Mr. Chong Kuen Gwak of the Korean Disabled
Veterans Organization in Seoul, Korea. One of the most impressive
gestures at the banquet was the full body bow made by
Saenuri Party Chairman Moo-Sung, Kim and others with him as
a show of their grateful appreciation for all Korean War veterans.
(See the letter on p. 14)
We were happy that Dr. Jongwoo Han shared the hotel with us
for his 3rd Annual Korean War Veterans Youth Corps Convention.
He had over 60 young people from all over the world representing
the UN countries that were a part of the war. In addition to the students,
there were thirty enthusiastic high school and college teachers
who are working on ways to get more and better information
about the Korean War into the history books and classrooms. I
think we will see good things come from this program.
I have received several calls thanking me for writing the letter
to the Memorial Day Capital Concerts organization. You will see
a response from Mr. Jerry Colbert, Executive Producer, on page 6.
He went to great pains to tell about the programs they have produced
in the past about the Korean War and sent me a DVD of
those programs.
I appreciate his response and the DVD, but he missed my point
about being left out when they recounted the wars the U.S. has
been involved in, so I have sent him another letter that again
makes the point that we do not like being ignored. We may not
hear any more from him, but at least we I feel we have made the
point.
Finally, I have just received an interesting bit of information
from a good friend of the KWVA, Mr. James McEachin, who is a
Korean War veteran, writer/actor, who some of you will remember
from a one-man show he did for us at one of our annual meetings
a few years back. (See page 6)
He contacted me about a movie he has written about the
Korean War, drawing on his service with the 2nd ID. We have
included nearby a brief synopsis of the movie titled “Thank You
for Your Service.” If anyone has an interest in what he is doing or
wants to support him in this endeavor, you may contact him at his
email address, mockinbrd@aol.com.
It’s time for elections again!!! If you have an interest in helping
to make KWVA a better organization, please submit your resume.
Larry Kinard, President
Korean War Veterans Association, Inc. (KWVA/US)