The Graybeards - KWVA - Korean War Veterans Association

COVER STORY
A Bit of Background
On 27 July 1995, the Korean
War Veterans Memorial
(KWVM) was dedicated in
Washington, D.C. This memorial
is composed of 19 stainless
steel statues, depicting a squad
on patrol. This symbolic patrol
brings together members of the
Army, Navy, Marines and Air
Force. The KWVM is part of
the National Park Service
(NFS) — one of more than 370
parks. The majority of these
parks have established trust
funds to assist the NFS from
time-to- time with financial
assistance in keeping their
memorials in pristine condition.
Our KWVM has such a fund
- The GEN R.G. Stilwell Korean
War Veterans Memorial
Foundation, Inc., and its
Chairman, COL William E.
Weber, USA (Ret), is one of
Chapter 142’s members. Over
the years, COL Weber’s foundation
has tried several different
promotions to keep this fund
solvent and to assist the NFS
with maintenance. This has
been a very difficult undertaking
and the results have not
been rewarding. With this in
mind, Frederick Chapter #142
COVER STORY
A Challenge From Chapter 142
“Ask yourself this simple
Question: Do we
need a trust fund?”
As readers will notice, the front cover of this issue features
a photo of members of Chapter #142 from Frederick, MD, presenting
President Dechert and COL Weber with an $8,000
check for the maintenance/preservation of our national monument.
There is a story behind that.
This is a special report regarding the efforts of Chapter 142.
Let’s start it with an excerpt of a letter from Bob Eader and
Marty Goge:
With the presentation of this second check, we obtained our selfimposed
commitment of $10,000 over a 5-year period in just a little
over 15 months, using the Rose of Sharon as our fund raiser.
We would like to challenge all KWV Chapters to raise monies as we
did for the GEN R.G. Stilwell KWV Memorial Foundation. We are
seeking coverage in your magazine to make this challenge a reality.
With this in mind, the enclosed information regarding our fund
raiser is being forwarded to you in the hopes that you will consider
making some of it general knowledge and a possible guideline
for other Chapters to follow.
Thank you in advance for helping promote this needy and most
worthwhile cause.
Sincerely,
Bob Eader, Chairman
Marty Goge, Co-Chair
KWVA Chapter #142
P. O. Box 1647
Frederick, MD 21702
(MD) initiated a fund raiser to
help in this endeavor.
We decided to try the Rose
of Sharon as our chapter’s fund
raiser. This got off to a very
slow start at a local mall where
we mistakenly combined several
different types of promotions;
as a consequence, we raised the
grand total of $96.00.
Realizing our mistake, we
quickly corrected the problem.
Sticking strictly to the Rose of
Sharon as the fund raiser for the
KWVM National Monument,
we were able to significantly
increase our donations at each
function. We worked not only at
malls, but also carnivals and
gun shows. Still in the learning
process, we had signs made to
inform the general public of our
reasons for raising this money.
The Challenge
In September 2005, we
donated $2,000 to COL Weber’s
trust foundation, but this was
just a token of what is actually
needed. Realizing it would certainly
take more than just one
chapter to support this trust
fund, Chapter #142 decided to
challenge the rest of the chapters
to meet or exceed our donation
of $2,000 per year for a
five-year period, for a total of
$10,000, if possible, per chapter.
There are a total of 237
chapters nationwide to help in
this endeavor. Chapter #142 has
reached its 5-year pledge of
$10,000 in just 15 months simply
by using the Rose of
Sharon, and in some cases, with
small American flags.
As depicted on the cover of
this magazine, we proudly presented
an $8,000 check to
President Dechert on 24 July
2006 for the monument’s trust
fund (The GEN R.G. Stilwell
Korean War Veterans Memorial
Foundation, Inc.). In this regard,
we request that the “foundation”
keep all chapters abreast
of our progress at least on a
quarterly basis.
All Chapters need to step
forward once again, as we did
50 plus years ago, to ensure that
our national memorial will not
“be forgotten.” All monies will
be placed in the Stilwell trust
28
Spring 2005, first try. On
right is display table that
resulted in dismal failure.
Far right, Marty
Goge (left) and Creed
Parker used initiative to
continually improve the
display.
September – October 2006
The Graybeards