We are preparing for our Annual Membership Meeting in Boston now. By the time you receive this magazine we
will have completed our meeting. I look forward to seeing and meeting many of our members from the Boston area
and surrounding states.
In July of this year the Board of Directors attended “The Gathering,” which is a group of Korean War veterans
who have made it a point to be in Washington DC for the past 27 years to attend a ceremony conducted at our
Korean War Veterans Monument. There are many members of our Association who have attended. There are, of course,
non-members who also attend.
The ceremony this year was not quite up to par, so the Association and those who direct “The Gathering” are
looking into a way to not let this Armistice Day Ceremony fail expectations, especially for the remaining 60th
Anniversary years. The Board of Directors attended a reception at the Capitol during this time frame and met
some of the members of Congress, as well as some of the Korean hosts for this reception.
I have the opportunity to give you some future dates that will have happened just before you receive the
November-December issue. First, my Ceremonies Group will be in Washington DC to attend the Veterans Day Ceremony
at the National Cemetery. This information was included in the July-August issue. November and December also
have many Korean Military Remembrance days. Notable are November 25th, CCF Counteroffensive into North Korea;
November 27th, Chosin Reservoir Battles; November 29th, Battle of Kuno-ri; December 10th, Wonsan-Hungnam
Campaigns; December 24th, Hungnam Evacuation Operation completed.
There are many other battles in Korea that each of us can remember during these months in the 37 months of
the Korean War. Special and religious dates are: November 24th, Thanksgiving; December 16th, Hanukkah; December
25th, Christmas. I hope you all have the opportunity to gather with your family and remember all those who are
not now present with you and to thank your God for all the blessings bestowed on you and yours.
We Korean War veterans are very blessed to still be able to celebrate these dates, pray for our country, and
show our patriotism.
There are many good things in the works at this time. I have information that the Korean War Monument
Foundation has been given Korean paintings worth five million dollars to be used to raise funds for the Monument
Wall that will contain the names of all those killed in action from the United States. The wall will be placed
in the Korean War Monument area.
Also, I have recently received information that the Korean War National Museum is planning on building in New
York City. You may think this is not a good move, since they have always been trying to build the museum in
Illinois. But, I believe that the new Board of Directors for the museum has information about funding that may
have affected that decision.
The museum has asked to make a presentation at our Annual Membership Meeting this year. This was granted;
further progress information will be placed in The Graybeards and on our website. I suggest that you check their
website at www.kwnm.org also.
Congress has been going from one crisis to another all this year. Consequently, the bill about the Korean
Service Veterans I reported on during the May-June President’s Message has fallen in priority. I hope to hear
more about it so I can update you of its progress in a later issue.
I also reported that we received 5,000 books on the Korean War for our “Tell America Project” from the Korean
government. We have, but a problem about shipping them to us has arisen, since our contact at the Embassy has
returned to Korea and a new attaché has been assigned.
Somehow, the message did not get passed on that the books were to be shipped to the KWVA. We have already had
some calls from chapters, but until we solve the shipping problem from the Embassy in Washington, D.C. to us, we
must wait for the approval to do so from the Korean government. Most political problems within governments are
not solved easily.
Our election process has been modified to help with the problem of some members not receiving their
Graybeards soon enough to send in their ballots on time. Since the bylaws must be changed properly, the change
approved by the Board of Directors was inserted in the July-August issue of The Graybeards and will be approved
at the October Annual Membership Meeting. There is a detailed explanation in this issue of why the change was
necessary and the date changes.
If you wish to run for an open office in the Board of Directors for the 2012 Election, please be sure and
look in this issue for the date your submittal will be due.
William F. Mac Swain
National President, KWVA/US