Sep/Oct 2008 - Korean War Veterans Association

Members in the
Louis Dechert
KWVA Past National President
receives highest award of the
Korean Veterans Association
On 3 July 2008 Chairman Dr. Park
Sek-jik, Major General Retired, ROK
Army, presented Past President Louis
Dechert with the Grand Meritorious
Service Medal, the highest award of the
six million-member Korean Veterans
Association (KVA). Mrs. Dechert and
Mrs. Park were in attendance.
The KVA is based in Seoul, Republic
of Korea (ROK).
Dr. Park is a former Mayor of Seoul,
former Minister of Administration for
the ROK Government, former Member
of the National Assembly, former head
of the National Korean Intelligence
Agency, and the National Organizing
Chairman for the World Summer
Olympic Games in Seoul, 1988.
Dr. Park read the citation, which stated
in part: …in “grateful recognition of
your support and cooperation that contributed
to the security of the Republic
of Korea and to the development of this
Association.”
Ron Gornick
Ron Gornick, of Chisholm, MN, was
featured in an 8 June 2008 article in the
Minnesota Legionnaire, p. 7. Even
though he earned 2 Purple Hearts and
survived a mission in which 14 of the 15
people in his squad were killed, he did
not get his Combat Infantryman’s
Badge—at least not until 57 years later.
As the article notes, Minnesota
Governor Tim Pawlenty presented
Gornick with the CIB in June, along
with a brevet 2nd Lt’s bar. That was
quite a day for Gornick—but it was only
part of his unique story.
To learn more about Gornick’s story,
go to http://www.mnlegion.org/paper/
html/gornick.html
Judith Knight
Judith Knight, a life member of
Chapter 255, SFT Harold F. Adkinson,
Aiken, SC, is very involved in a Fisher
House project in Aiken
County, SC. She wrote:
The Fisher House
Project is vital. The Aiken County
Veterans Council has voted to have a
permanent Fisher House Committee so
that we may continue to support the
house when it is up and functioning.
This is a way to honor our military, past,
present and future.
In addition to the Active Duty Rehab
Unit, the only ADRU in a VAMC in the
entire country, the Charlie Norwood
VAMC, serves our active duty personnel
as well as the veterans with a Blind
Rehabilitation Unit where patients come
to learn life skills as they deal with total
or legal blindness.
Also, there are a Spinal Cord Injury
Unit and a Traumatic Brain Injury Unit.
The Charlie Norwood VAMC is state of
the art and has an excellent reputation
for serving the veterans and active duty.
It would be a real boost to the fund raising
efforts if such a prestigious service
magazine as The Graybeards would publish
this article, which appeared in the 7
September edition of the Augusta [GA]
Chronicle.
Fisher House will fill
vital need in community
By Judith Knight–Special Columnist
A unique connection exists among
active-duty soldiers, veterans, Dwight D.
Eisenhower Army Medical Center, Medical
College of Georgia Hospital and the
Uptown and Downtown divisions of the
Charlie Norwood Veterans Affairs Medical
Centers.
When the Fisher Foundation became
aware of that connection and the number
of veterans and their families who could
benefit from a Fisher House, they agreed to
build a 21-bedroom, 16,000-square-foot
house.
The active-duty rehab unit at the VA
hospital in Augusta has treated more than
1,000 active-duty patients since it opened
in 2004 and has a 28 percent return-toduty
rate.
Part of that care involves getting family
members as close as possible while service
members heal. That’s where the Fisher
House comes in.
The estimated cost of the proposed
Fisher House is $5.4 million. The community
will provide $1.8 million. Donations of
nearly $520,000 came from corporate
donors in Georgia and friends, families and
others.
The Aiken County Veterans Council is a
coalition of organizations dedicated to supporting
veterans and active-duty military.
The council has greater influence on areas
of legislation affecting veterans than member
organizations would have individually.
Its members consider the construction of a
Fisher House to be “mission critical.”
The council’s official fundraising in
Aiken County began with a Fourth of July
concert at Rose Hill Estate benefiting the
Fisher House. Marine Corps League
Detachment 939 and Friends of Freedoms
Defenders served as ticket sellers, gatekeepers
and parking directors. The audience
responded generously with almost
$5,000 in donations. Since then, that
amount has almost tripled.
Elementary pupils in Aiken County
schools will participate in a special program
during Patriotism Week, Nov. 10-14.
The pupils will write letters to the governors
of all 50 states, requesting donations
to the Fisher House.
There is no Fisher House in South
Carolina, and the seven-bedroom house at
Fort Gordon is the only one in Georgia. It is
hoped that groundbreaking for the new
Fisher House can take place as early as
spring.
The Aiken County Council has declared
Sept. 13 as Fisher House Day in Aiken
County by resolution, and Aiken is doing so
by proclamation.
The Aiken County Veterans Council
urges those who wish to participate as
fundraisers to register with the veterans
council at Fisher House Project, 260 Hill
and Dell Drive, Warrenville, SC 29851.
Tax-deductible contributions may be
sent to the Fisher House Fund
Administrators Community Foundation of
the CSRA, P.O. Box 31358, Augusta, GA
30903. On the memo line, you must put
“Augusta VA Fisher House.”
Judith Knight is the Fisher House Day
Chairwoman for the Aiken County
Veterans Council.
9
The Graybeards
September – October 2008