I am sending this DAILY BRIEF from SEOUL, KOREA, where I have been attending the 7th General Assembly
of the INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF KOREAN WAR VETERANS ASSOCIATIONS (IFKWVA). Our organization—KWVA—is
the US member of IFKWVA. During the deliberations this week I was elected as one of the five members of
the Executive Council of the Federation.
The IFKWVA delegates presented a wreath at the Republic of Korea National Cemetery. At the ceremony
we were joined by 67 US veterans, many accompanied by wives or other family members, who were visiting in
Korea under the Korean Government’s (ROK) Program of “RETURN VISITS.” We were also joined by a group of
Korean veterans from Hawaii on a return visit. . The Korean press carried a story and picture of the event
which I am sharing with all of you today.
It was a pleasure to speak to the “Return Visit” veterans in the MILITARY HISTORICAL TOURS, INC., group
the next morning. KWVA Director Warren Wiedhahn's tour directors were doing a great job and our members
with whom I spoke were having the “time of their lives.” They were speaking of returning home and working
to increase the membership of their chapters, revitalize participation, and increase public recognition
of the significance of our sacrifices in the Korean War.
The IFKWVA was able to receive assurances from The (ROK) Korean War Veterans that the revisits were going
to continue. However, I want to urge as many of our members as possible to apply for this worthy benefit
afforded by the ROK to us. We are all growing older and there will not “always be a tomorrow” to return
to visit the places and people whom we virtually saved from communist extinction. Many of the veterans visiting
this week were accompanied by sons, daughters, grandchildren. I do not believe that their expenses were
borne by our Korean hosts. However, I observed, and suggest, that there may be no better way to spend our
declining amount of individual money, than helping the future generations of our families understand and
see what we experienced in 1950-1954, and how we personally felt in revisiting the scenes and events in
2004.
I want to thank the ROK for organizing and supporting the IFKWVA for several decades and paying the costs,
such as my own, in attending and taking care of the business of the Federation. The IFKWVA is the instrument
overseeing, among other things, the Revisit Program.
Closing, I also want to thank all our officers and other officials at home who have been busy improving
the KWVA even as I have been trying to do during this week in Korea. God bless you all, and God bless America!
