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I, and many thousands of others, are patiently awaiting the printing of the new “Military Awards and Decorations Manual!” It is, if what I have been told by the Pentagon is factual, scheduled to be printed up sometime in July of this year.
“This has not been a easy task!” It has been one that was fraught with attempts at plagiarism (nothing new here), usurpation, and apple polishing by once trusted people who originally claimed, in my opinion, that their only agenda (like ours), was rendering long-overdue honor - where honor was due, in my most humble opinion.
My wife and I, as most of you know, entered into this labor of love to pay homage to the 17,000 to 21,000 Americans who perished in enemy captivity since 7 December 1941, as well as my wife‘s uncle who also expired in a North Korean Prisoner of War facility. And baring over a month during that time that I spent in the hospital for brain surgery, my wife, who slept on a cot right beside my bed, diligently worked on this measure along with me, with the encouragement of nearly 8,000,000 proud and noble Americans, 36 veteran’s groups, hundreds of congressmen, the Senate and of course, all of the genuine patriots in our midst!
Not everyone backed this Bill - quite to the contrary in fact! It had it’s share of detractors, and I respect even their views! These detractors, however, were not the ones who disappointed me the most.”
For over 4 1/2 years we toiled on this “Honor Our Fallen Prisoners of War Act“, spending many hours daily on it! We wrote and sent out e-mails by the thousands, made countless phone calls, and even hundreds of postal mailings. As a matter of fact, many got genuinely pissed-off over our persistence! But to quote someone far wiser than those who viewed our efforts as a bother, or something to be latched on to for their own vested purposes, let me echo the words of “Old Ben Franklin”: “ENERGY AND PERSISTENCE CONQUER ALL THINGS”, and so they did, but at no small cost in health and time I might add!
I would have never believed that a scant few would attempt to turn this Bill to their own advantage! It was not done for the living, but rather for our honored dead, and so it will remain if I have anything to say about it?
I was, however, disgusted when a few entities attempted to turn this noble effort into personal gain or pats upon the back! Again, this “WAS NOT” the reason for this endeavor, and may the Almighty and the souls of our fallen heroes have mercy upon those who sought to polish their own apples at the expense of the blood of our fallen patriots!
As for me, and quoting an old Indian Chief of the Nineteenth Century: From where the Sun now stands - I will fight these causes, no more forever - no matter how worthy they may be!
VERITAS (Truth)
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