Jan/Feb 2008 - KWVA - Korean War Veterans Association

Military Order Of The Purple Heart Refutes
ABC News Report
Springfield, VA.—”ABC unfairly
branded the Military Order of the Purple
Heart (MOPH) with an ‘F’ stamped across
my photo on national television,” said
Henry Cook, National Commander of the
Military Order of the Purple Heart. “The
American public was shocked that a nonprofit
veteran’s service organization would
spend money on itself rather than wounded
troops.”
“It was all a huge error!” Cook said.
“The Military Order of the Purple Heart
Service Foundation, not the veteran’s service
organization known as the Military
Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH), is the
organization spending funds on things
other than providing services to veterans.
Things like a half million dollars to a
museum that later employed the daughter
of a Service Foundation board member,
excessive executive salaries; a high priced,
black tie retirement party for an executive
that was re-hired at the same salary, a super
bowl-type retirement ring costing thousands
of dollars. All of this paid for with
dollars donated for the combat wounded
warrior, their widows and orphans.”
Cook related how the Foundation is
responsible for raising funds through
donations and gives MOPH an annual
grant to use for operations and payroll.
“But this year the amount of money needed
to accomplish all our programs and
projects has been drastically cut.”
Cook continued to outline some of the
gross expenditures made by the
Foundation on items he considered outlandish.
“ABC’s Brian Ross is going to air
the real story. Both myself and the
National Adjutant, Joe Palagyi, were interviewed
by ABC and asked to verify some
of the questionable expenditures. We set
the record straight!”
“The media has stolen our valor,” Joe
Palagyi told ABC. Palagyi is responsible
for managing the day to day operations and
the annual budget for the MOPH. “They
took away our honor and the pride that our
40,000 members hold so dear. They tarnished
the Purple Heart. We couldn’t let
that happen without responding.”
ABCs Brian Ross asked if the Service
Foundation’s Executive Director Dick
Esau would appear on camera to relate his
side of the story. “I asked him, but he
declined. In fact, he warned me not to talk
to the media,” Cook stated.
“I want America to watch the ABC
News story to be aired soon. Only then
will the American public understand how
MOPH strives to help the combat wounded
and their families. We work hard to
make life a little better for those who have
shed their blood on the world’s battlefields.”
The MOPH consists of about 40,000
combat wounded veterans from all
wars. As a service organization, they provide
comfort and support and fill the void
that is created when the VA or military help
is stretched thin. Their members serve as
volunteers, without pay in providing assistance
to veterans and their families.
Families are given travel expenses to
visit loved ones in military hospitals.
Backpacks filled with
comfort items are given
to wounded as they leave
Iraq or Afghanistan
military medical
facilities. Weekly
visits are made to
patients in Walter
Reed Army
Hospital, Bethesda
Naval Hospital and
Brooke Army Medical Center in San
Antonio. In each case, patients are asked to
tell MOPH members what they need to
make life a little better and MOPH members
work hard around the nation to do just
that.
MILITARY ORDER OF THE PURPLE HEART
National Headquarters
5413-B Backlick Road
Springfield, VA 22151
703-642-5360 Fax: 703-642-1841
KWVA salutes James Nicholson
Bob Banker (L) presents plaque to James Nicholson (R)
KWVA National Director Bob Banker
represented the Association on the occasion
of a September 25, 2007 retirement
function for outgoing Department of
Veterans Affairs Secretary James
Nicholson.
He presented a plaque to Secretary
Nicholson on behalf of the Association.
73
The Graybeards January-February 2008