Jackpot! VVA's Twelfth Biennial Convention

Any way you look at it, VVA’s 12th biennial National Convention, which was held Aug. 10-13 at the Silver Legacy Hotel and Casino in Reno, Nevada, was a huge success. A record number of Convention delegates, 736 from across the nation, rolled up their collective sleeves and spent three and a half days debating and enacting a series of resolutions that will guide the organization through the next two years. On Friday, the delegates cast their votes for VVA’s four national officers and nineteen members of the Board of Directors. More than a thousand delegates and guests—including some 125 AVVA members taking part in the organization’s National Leadership Conference—took in the stirring opening ceremonies that kicked off the Convention and the moving (and rocking) Saturday Night Awards Banquet, which ended the event.

“We did ourselves proud in Reno,” said outgoing VVA President Tom Corey, who stepped down after two terms. “The delegates showed a seriousness of purpose that we have come to expect at VVA Conventions. The election campaigns were hard fought. And after the votes were counted, we came together in support of our new national leaders who will guide us through another two years. I look forward to working with them.”

John Rowan of Middle Village, New York, the New York State Council president who had served as the chair of VVA’s Conference of State Council Presidents and three terms on the Board of Directors, was elected VVA’s sixth national president, defeating former VVA Vice President Ed Chow. Jack Devine of Dimondale, Michigan, a former VVA Board member who chairs VVA’s Project 112/SHAD Task Force, was chosen as national Vice President. Barry Hagge of Boyertown, Pennsylvania, the long-time chair of VVA’s Constitution Committee, was elected national Secretary, and Alan Cook of Castro Valley, California, won re-election as national Treasurer.

“It’s a great honor to serve as VVA’s national President,” Rowan said. “We have a great team in place to run this great veterans’ service organization for the next two years. I am looking forward to working with VVA members all across the nation on every level to support Vietnam veterans and their families In Service to America.”

The Convention got off to an exuberant start at 9:00 on Wednesday morning with the Opening Ceremonies, which began with rousing renditions of the Vietnam-War-era songs “Run Through the Jungle” and “Fortunate Son” by an uncannily realistic John Fogerty (of Creedence Clearwater Revival) impersonator as black and white war-time images were displayed on four huge video screens. The ceremonies also included moving tributes to former VVA National President George Duggins (who died just a week before the Convention) and other VVA members lost in the previous year, as well as warm welcomes from Nevada State Council President Virgie Hibbler, Jr., Reno Mayor Robert Cashell, and AVVA President Mary Miller.

Most of those on hand agreed that the highlight of the morning was the powerful Keynote Speech delivered by VVA member Allen Hoe, a former Americal Division medic from Honololu who today is one of Hawaii’s most prominent attorneys—and whose son, U.S. Army Lt. Nainoa Hoe, was killed in action in Iraq in January.

“I have stopped trying to understand why the events in my life have come to me in the manner they have and at the times they had,” Hoe said. “Sayings like ‘there but for the grace of God’ have true meaning in my world. I learned many lessons on the battlefields of Hiep Duc and Que Son Valley—when all is lost, you need to remember: someone else has it twice as bad as you.”

The delegates put in long hours on the Convention floor on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and during evening caucuses with the officer and board candidates. On Thursday, the delegates heard from Deputy Secretary Gordon Mansfield, the No. 2 person in the VA. On Friday, the delegates honored Tabeatha Allen, a security guard at the hotel who all week had been thanking VVA members for their service. When members learned that Allen was a twice-wounded veteran of the war in Iraq, she was prevailed upon to come onto the Convention floor and be introduced. What followed was a thunderous ovation, as Convention delegates showed their allegiance to VVA’s founding principle: “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.”

With the work of the Convention complete by noon on Saturday, nearly everyone joined in the autographing and book-signing event featuring Raquel Welch, who signed photos for more than two and a half hours. Also taking part was John Hulme, who directed the acclaimed HBO documentary, Unknown Soldier: Searching for a Father, the story of his quest to learn about his father, U.S. Marine Lt. Jack Hulme, who in 1969 was killed in action in Vietnam when John Hulme was three weeks old.

Raquel Welch, who made a Bob Hope tour trip to Vietnam in 1967, and John Hulme received the VVA President’s Award for Excellence in the Arts at the Saturday night Awards Banquet, which was emceed by VVA member Troy Evans, the veteran Hollywood character actor best known for his recurring roles on China Beach and ER. Evans, in fact, reprised one of his China Beach bits, “Sarge’s Rules for How to Stay Alive in Vietnam” on stage. That included the old chestnut: “When you’ve secured an area, don’t forget to tell the enemy. They may have other plans.”

Also receiving an Excellence in the Arts Award: Wayne Karlin, the author of—among many other acclaimed works—the novel Lost Armies and the memoir Rumors and Stones. Karlin, a former Marine helicopter doorgunner, is one of the finest, most accomplished, and most honored writers to come out of the Vietnam War.

The Awards Banquet concluded with a tribute to retiring VVA President Tom Corey, who said that while he was stepping down as President, he would continue to be an active veterans’ advocate and work with VVA for years to come.

VVA In Action - In Service to Victims of Hurricane Katrina

After Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, Louisiana State Council Vice President Dennis Andras spoke to the employees of his battered electrical business. He needed to explain something.

“The life we had does not exist anymore,” he told them.

On August 31, VVA President John Rowan called on the membership across the nation to come to the aid of the millions of Americans whose lives—much like those of Dennis Andras and his employees—had been drastically changed by the devastating storm. Basic supplies—bottled water, food, clothes, and other necessities—have been collected and delivered by VVA and AVVA members in the Gulf Coast states. The effort will continue for the foreseeable future.

Tom Hall, who was named VVA Hurricane Katrina Relief Coordinator by Rowan, said, “If each VVA member donated only $20, we could do a lot.”

Checks should be made out to “VVA Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund.” Send your check to Vietnam Veterans of America, ATTN: VVA Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund, 8605 Cameron St., Suite 400, Silver Spring, MD 20910. To make a donation on line or to obtain new information, go to www.vva.org/DisasterRelief/index.htm or www.vva.org and click on the “Hurricane Relief” icon.

“This unfortunate tragedy has affected the lives of so many,” Rowan said in his August statement. “As in the past, I know that our VVA and AVVA members will step up during this time of need.”

Hall and the Florida State Council were chosen to coordinate the hurricane relief effort based on their involvement in relief work done last year when four hurricanes swept across Florida. To contact Hall, call 813-294-4364 or e-mail HurricaneReliefFund@vva.org Working with State Council Presidents, AVVA, and other members, Hall established collection and distribution centers in Beaumont, Texas; Memphis, Tenn.; Tupelo, Miss.; Tallahassee, Fla.; Savannah, Ga.; Tampa, Fla.; and cities in North Carolina.

Hall said the VVA relief effort will follow the template that grew out of last year’s work during the Florida hurricane season. “We’re taking the supplies to the people who need them,” he said. “Last year, the first place we took supplies was Fort Myers. The county wanted us to drop everything off at a warehouse where the supplies would be stored. We said no and went about five or six miles down the road and found two trailer parks that had almost no assistance nine days after the hurricane.”

Hall said that that experience convinced him that the more direct route to those in need was the best to follow.

“We needed to do it ourselves,” he said. “After that first one, that’s the way we worked every place we went. We were a self-sufficient operation. It was successful. We never returned with supplies. Everything we took, we dispersed.”

VVA’s Katrina effort even began before the hurricane hit the Gulf Coast. Modeling the collection and distribution points system on the one used last year, Hall said the ongoing effort so far has met with success. With chapters across the country conducting their own fund-raising programs, Hall said that as the donations come into the pipeline, he will continue to amass supplies and distribute them as needed.

In Texas, State Council President Bill Meeks reported that the five Gulf Coast chapters within 90 miles of one another have been communicating as best they can. Meeks said that with Houston being a major distribution location as well as a center for New Orleans evacuees, the response had been overwhelming for the people in need of help.

“There are about 1,800 VVA members in the three affected states and about 300 AVVA members,” Meeks said. “Within the Gulf Coast and the bordering states, we have about 7,500 VVA members and more than 1,000 AVVA members. So that’s our work force.”

AVVA President Mary Miller said AVVA members have been at work in relief efforts from the first day, collecting funds, donating funds, buying food, cooking it, and going out to feed those in need. “It’s been wonderful the way people have responded,” she said. “AVVA automatically kicked in when the need arose, and this is only the tip of the iceberg. This is going to go on for a long time.”

Texas VVA and AVVA members, including Bill and Suzie Meeks, Jim and Marilyn Rose, and Sandra Womack, were scheduled to deliver a load of supplies to Jennings, La., earmarked for the beleaguered employees of Dennis Andras. A second delivery was scheduled to go to Lake Charles, La., where member Wes Guidry has been working with his church to bring aid to two areas.

“Dennis has been hard hit,” Meeks said. “We’re taking clothing, canned goods, and many other things.”

While VVA members have reached out to fellow members and other veterans, Meeks stressed that the relief effort stretches well beyond the boundaries of the veteran community.

“If we can identify veterans or VVA members, yes, they’re going to get the aid, but a lot of the other aid is also going to the general community,” he said, invoking the VVA motto. “You can’t put it any better: ‘In Service To America.’ That’s what we’re all about. Veterans, yes. We’re going to take care of the veterans. But we’re going to take care of the larger community, too. That’s the philosophy we live by. We’re not going to forget anybody.”

In Mississippi, Bill West of Chapter 842 in Tupelo reported a good turnout and donation response. Delivering bottled water, canned goods, sanitary items, baby food, and formula to a center set up about ten miles west of Gulfport, West said he had never seen such destruction. Likening the landscape to a “war scene” as he drove toward Gulfport, West said it looked like a bomb had gone off—a bomb larger than the imagination could create.

“It was total destruction,” he said. “I didn’t see a light pole standing. There wasn’t a tree standing. The people were tired. They were just worn out. The church we went to had only six members left. All the rest had gone. They were just exhausted. We’re going to do this for as long as it takes, and it’s going to take months. We’re just going to do what we can. As often as we can get a load, we’ll get it down there.”

In Louisiana, Region 7 Director Allen Manuel has been traveling to shelters and parks, where tent cities have blossomed. “Towels, sheets, pillows, Kool-Aid, fruit—whatever they need,” he said. “I bought gas for people who had cars. I bought fans. You name it and we bought it and gave it to them. I’m doing the best with what I have, and it’s doing real well right now. There’s a lot of people that need to be helped and a lot of them who say they don’t need help because they don’t want to impose on others. It’s a tough job.”

In Florida, relief coordinator Tom Hall has urged all members to be aware of the hazards of attempting hurricane relief work on their own. Citing serious health issues in the affected areas, he said that any member venturing into these areas must have a current tetanus shot.

Hall is pleased with the VVA effort to date, and like Bill Meeks in Texas, points to the VVA motto to underscore the philosophy behind the effort.

“It’s going real well,” he said. “The biggest thing I could say to our members is that this is a total team effort. We’ve all got to work together on this. This is something that’s happened to our country and we have a responsibility to help our fellow man. We look at our VVA motto and see ‘In Service To America.’ Well, by God, we’re still in service to America.”

Strategic Plan - VVA's Roadmap to the Future

VVA, like most service organizations these days, is in a period of transition. This is not unusual since change or evolution is natural, and historically VVA has been a catalyst for change within the veterans service community. What is different today is the rapid pace and complexity that these changes have and will continue to have on VVA's ability to be a relevant factor both to ourselves and to society as a whole. The VVA leadership recognized that VVA would need a method or process to address the multitude of opportunities to emerge and to meet the challenges it would encounter in this fast-changing "reality" that is taking us into the 21st century.

In earlier years, VVA utilized a strategic plan that was developed and approved by the national board of directors in 1989. A review indicated that indeed this plan had actually served VVA very well as it focused the entire organization on the issues and concerns that were relevant and important during that time period. Many of VVA's successes and victories can be traced back to the clarity of purpose that the plan brought forth to the entire organization. What the plan lacked was a process that continued its implementation and kept the plan alive as the dynamics of VVA leadership at all levels evolved and changed.

The need to create a comprehensive process or methodology for the development and implementation of a new strategic plan for VVA was recognized by the VVA national president James L. Brazee, Jr., and a Strategic Planning Committee was established for this purpose.

The president appointed VVA national treasurer Jack McManus to chair the new Strategic Planning Committee, and he, in turn, appointed committee members that represented the diverse interests of the various constituencies and organizational levels within VVA. It is important to recognize that the committee was intentionally structured to include representation from large and small chapters, large and small state councils, the VVA staff, VVA associates, non-BOD committee chairs, national BOD members, minority and women veteran members, and elected national officers.

The reasoning behind having such diversity in the committee makeup was ultimately the plan would need to reflect the real differences of interests within the organization at each level. The intent was to be truly representative of our memberships' interests so that the individual members could embrace and own the plan. The committee believes that if the entire organization claims ownership in the Strategic Plan, then the implementation of the various elements of this plan will be more successful at all levels.

Core Values

Advocacy:

We are committed to unrelenting advocacy for fairness in the treatment of veterans so that never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.

Meaningful Achievement:

We want to make a difference, focusing on issues that stand as critical barriers to a fulfilling life for veterans and all Americans.

Integrity:

We tell the truth and take responsibility.

Compassion:

We care about comrades and others in needs.

Camaraderie:

We support each other and feel we're all members of one family.
Vision & Mission Statements

Vision:

We are leading the challenge to do what is right for America and its veterans.

Mission:

Using the shared vision of our membership:

· we aggressively advocate on issues important to veterans;

· provide programs and services that improve the well-being of all veterans and their families;

· and serve our communities.

Goals, Rationales, and Strategies

Membership Goal:

To proactively recruit, retain, and develop an informed and personally effective membership dedicated to VVA's values, mission, and goals.

Membership Rationale:

The operative phrases in the membership goal are: Informed, personally effective, and dedicated membership who embrace VVA's values, mission, and goals. In other words, as we seek to expand our membership, we offer opportunities for increasing personal effectiveness to those who share our values and commitment. The new strategic plan will let prospective members know the kind of organization they are joining. Vigorous pursuit of the goals and strategies by chapters offer many opportunities for the full use of prospective members' talents according to the interests. The strategy calls for an effective external communications program to aid recruitment, combined with training to promote personal and professional development for members through their participation in chapter activities.

Membership Strategy:

Develop and implement a comprehensive master plan, which includes all levels; a targeted effort to recruit members (using professional and personal contact and face-to-face marketing resources); and a program to retain them.

Advocacy Goal:

Identify and prioritize legislative and administrative objectives to focus our energy and resources as an effective catalyst for the retention and improvement of veterans benefits.

Advocacy Rationale:

America has an "unfinished agenda" for public policy and funding of programs affecting veterans. Health care looms large at all levels of government. Other issues range from protecting and improving service-connected compensation benefits and veterans employment preferences to advocating research and/or programs addressing Agent Orange, PTSD, and homelessness as well as specialized programs relating to women, minority, and incarcerated veterans. In an age of government downsizing, veterans benefits across the board are at risk. There is an enormous educational job to be done among Vietnam veterans, public policymakers and the general public.

When it comes to passionate and powerful advocacy, VVA is clearly a leader in the veterans community, and the situation is ripe for action. More and more Vietnam veterans are being elected at all levels of government. In short, the Vietnam generation is in charge. But there are many challenges: Advocacy goals are not focused sufficiently to establish a clear agenda in order to concentrate efforts to achieve it. Not all VVA members accept a "political" role for the organization; veterans service organizations have competing legislative and administrative agendas; and VVA's own advocacy efforts are often scattered. Thus, there is a need to establish key legislative and administrative priorities in VVA and among veterans service organizations.

Advocacy Strategy:

Identify and prioritize legislative and administrative objectives, consolidate existing VVA advocacy functions and focus our energy and resources to most effectively advocate for the advancement of veterans' concerns.

Direct Services Strategy:

Maintain, expand, and support our network of veteran service representatives nationwide. Publicize direct service information and conduct training on how to build community-based coalitions. Offer the tools necessary; information and training for providing direct services and for building community-based coalitions to meet the needs of veterans and their families.

Direct Services Rationale:

VVA seeks to assure a decent, positive lifestyle for veterans by working at two levels: Actually providing VVA-sponsored services and by building the community's commitment and capacity to provide essential services to veterans and their families.

VVA has a strong base expertise in veterans benefits and provides representation for veterans to receive benefits due them. As our population ages, new concerns ranging from long-term health care to career upheavals and retirement need to be anticipated. While we continue to provide direct services, we need to help members understand the complexity of emerging needs. And we need to train members in how to build community-based coalitions to address these needs.

Direct Services Goal:

Participate in providing direct services needed by veterans and their families.

Community Service Goal:

Enable VVA members to their community and promote positive social change.

Community Service Rationale:

Creating safe and viable communities, whether rural, urban, or suburban, is high on America's agenda. The opportunity to provide meaningful service to his/her community is an important reason for any veteran to become and remain involved in a VVA chapter. VVA has a history of community involvement-chapters have conducted a wide variety of creative, effective programs attacking gang warfare, drug addiction, family strife, homelessness, help to the elderly and disabled, and education on the Vietnam War at various academic levels.

However, these efforts are largely isolated. There is no organized network for communication among community service efforts, no mentoring program, and no designated responsibility at any level of VVA. Therefore, the first step is to document how chapters are serving their communities and to organize a mentoring program among chapters to inspire continued innovation.

Community Service Strategy:

Create a database of current and past community activities and develop and implement a commmunity mentor program, which stimulates community service activities.

Financial Goal:

Continuously expand the financial base to assure adequate resources to support VVA's mission at all operational levels.

Financial Strategy:

Develop and implement a comprehensive Financial/Funding Master Plan that provides a diversified funding base for all operational levels of the organization. The plan would include: A description of the current situation, needs and priorities, existing and potential resources, training needs, opportunities and methods at all levels, restrictions, allocation formulas, and means for monitoring and evaluating achievement of goals.

Financial Rationale:

VVA has tremendous potential for fundraising. Members recognize the need to devote energy to obtaining resources. The VVA name is well established, and we have a record of success. Moreover, many Vietnam veterans who are nearing their peak earning years in successful careers represent an important and largely untapped source for financial support.


On the other hand, we lack a comprehensive approach, relying too heavily on funding from just a few sources. We need a plan based on modern fundraising techniques plus training and technical assistance to enable chapters, state councils, and the national office to participate in a well-coordinated effort. The plan should also describe how resources will be shared to support national, state, and local operations.

Communications Goal:

Create a clear communications system/structure identifying responsibility throughout VVA, effectively using new and existing technology.

Communications Rationale:

Effective, two-way communication inside VVA and with various publics is critical to our success. VVA wants to be the authoritative voice and clearinghouse for information on topics of interest to veterans. The information age is producing increasingly accessible technology for inter-personal communication through the Internet and for mass media. VVA may not be taking full advantage of these channels. Some of the technology has not reached every chapter or member. Most important, responsibility for conveying information and providing feedback has not been established throughout VVA. Hence, the need to create a clear strategy for communicating with external audiences and to establish a system and structure that defines responsibility at all levels for our internal communications.

Communications Strategy:

Establish effective communication channels and assign responsibility at all levels. Make effective use of new and existing technology to assure accurate information exchange within these channels and encourage use and feedback between all levels.

Organizational Effectiveness Goal:

Continuously improve the ability of VVA at all levels to service a growing membership.

Organizational Effectiveness Rationale:

Assuring a positive future for VVA requires an ongoing effort to continuously improve the effectiveness of the organization itself. Success depends on: a) commitment to VVA's values and vision, b) cooperation in the pursuit of clear goals and strategies c) agreement on roles-who gets to do what d) constant, accurate feedback from VVA's members and external audiences to anticipate needs and to measure accomplishment and e) effective leadership. Making this happen is not a one-shot project. It is an ongoing process, requiring constant attention and resources. Equipping VVA's leaders for continuous improvement of the organization begins by helping them to explore implications of the strategic plan through planning with their constituencies. Feedback from these discussions about VVA's directions and ways to implement the plan at national, state, and local levels will provide the basis for designing a systematic, continuous improvement process to keep VVA strong. There must also be an ongoing, periodic review of VVA's organizational and committee structure to make VVA's operations as efficient and effective as possible and to ensure that VVA's structure changes appropriately as the organization j evolves. Additionally, VVA's resource allocation must be constantly geared to making the best possible use of limited fiscal and staff resources. Doing so will necessitate prioritizing national convention and board resolutions and directives so that VVA's priorities will be determined by a deliberate process and not by reactions to emerging and changing events.

Organizational Effectiveness Strategy:

Develop and implement a process to address the purposes, roles, and responsibilities of each organizational element within VVA and define the means for the leadership of element within VVA and define the means for the leadership of each organizational elements to measure and reward accomplishments.

Implementation Roles

Role of the Board:

Approve the strategic plan; act as spokesperson for VVA's vision, values, and strategic directions; provide policy; and prioritize resources for plan implementation.

Role of Committees:

Review strategic plan; adjust agendas/objectives to support the strategies; develop work plans to measure achievement of objectives.

Role of State Council:

Review the strategic plan; develop objectives for state-level activities; provide technical advice and support to chapters.

Role of Chapters:

Review national and state strategies and objectives; decide how they are able to support them; implement appropriate activities.

Role of Conference of State Council President:

Act as advisory and leadership development resource amongst state council presidents, providing knowledge, evaluation, and feedback on the various objectives and activities implemented to fulfill the plans' goals and strategies from VVA's chapters and state councils.

Role of National Staff:

Internally - develop and implement objectives in support of the strategic plan, report to the board on implementation.

Externally - provide resources, training, and technical support to state councils and chapters to support their strategic planning and evaluation processes.

Methodology

VVA's Strategic Plan provides a roadmap for building a positive future for our organization. The strategic plan spells out the core values we share, affirms our fundamental purposes through our mission statement, and establishes a framework of goals and strategies to focus our energies and resources. The plan presents a simple and necessarily concise framework for subsequent planning and actions that must take place at all levels.

To assist the committee, we engaged Mr. Dwight Fee, a well-respected expert in strategic planning and organizational development to act as the facilitator for the planning process and to keep the committee focused.

The committee utilized the illustrated planning model as a guide through this Strategic Planning process. In addition, the Strategic Plan from 1989 was utilized from the perspective of "lessons learned," building upon the fine work of that earlier plan.

Further, the committee conducted a survey of VVA members and leaders-from chapter and state council presidents to the BOD, the national officers, and staff. The survey asked them to identify trends in society likely to affect VVA and its members. It also asked them to suggest how VVA may need to change.

The utilization of this survey data assured the committee that the "voice of the membership" was also fully recognized and incorporated into the planning process.

The committee also examined the strengths and limitations of VVA, seeking to match our strengths to the emerging opportunities in the world around us.

Strategic Plan provides a roadmap for building a positive future for our organization. The strategic plan spells out the core values we share, affirms our fundamental purposes through our mission statement, and establishes a framework of goals and strategies to focus our energies and resources. The plan presents a simple and necessarily concise framework for subsequent planning and actions that must take place at all levels.

To assist the committee, we engaged Mr. Dwight Fee, a well-respected expert in strategic planning and organizational development to act as the facilitator for the planning process and to keep the committee focused.

The committee utilized the illustrated planning model as a guide through this Strategic Planning process. In addition, the Strategic Plan from 1989 was utilized from the perspective of "lessons learned," building upon the fine work of that earlier plan.

Further, the committee conducted a survey of VVA members and leaders-from chapter and state council presidents to the BOD, the national officers, and staff. The survey asked them to identify trends in society likely to affect VVA and its members. It also asked them to suggest how VVA may need to change.

The utilization of this survey data assured the committee that the "voice of the membership" was also fully recognized and incorporated into the planning process.

The committee also examined the strengths and limitations of VVA, seeking to match our strengths to the emerging opportunities in the world around us.

This exhaustive examination not only informed our planning, it also yielded some important implications for the way we operate.

The single most important conclusion is that merely producing a strategic plan will not be sufficient to move VVA successfully into the 21st century. What is required is a planning and evaluation process that cascades through all levels of the organization to align our energies to implement the plan. Without such a process, supported by members skilled in facilitation, meaningful implementation is highly unlikely.

A second overarching conclusion is that implementing our roadmap for the future depends on empowering people at all levels through strong leadership, clear responsibility and authority, sufficient resources, and above all, a new level of cooperation among all elements of the organization.

Like every organization these days, VVA is in transition. To grow and remain relevant, we must change in order to respond to changes occurring around us. The new global economy, the march of technology, and the maturing of our membership are just a few of the forces already impacting us. Not only do we need to change, we need to change fast just to stay up.

The core values expressed in the plan are those things that our members believe are why they joined VVA and what needs to be here for them to remain committed to VVA. The committee utilized these core values to guide its decision-making during the planning process and are important to be considered when implementing the plan.

The vision statement is how we want the organization to be viewed by our members, our staff, and the public at any ideal point in the future.

The mission statement: simply addresses how and what we do as an organization based upon rethinking our basic purposes.

The goals define areas from our mission statement where we can achieve specific results.

The rationale is a summary analysis of the forces likely to effect the achievement success of the stated goal.

The strategy for each goal defines in a broad sense what should be accomplished to attain specific achievements.

Objectives and workplans committees at all levels, including chapters and state councils and the national staff, are asked to establish objectives and work plans for each goal and strategy, including measurable outcomes. This will require the committee and national staff to rethink their work and shift their resources and energy to align their work with the Strategic Plan.

Chapters and state councils should undertake an assessment of their respective entity to determine how they can best align their objectives and activities to best support this Strategic Plan.

The roles identify the responsibilities that each entity within the organization could be expected to perform for the successful implementation of the Strategic Plan.

Follow-up a continuing effort will be undertaken by leaders of VVA to: Communicate the values, mission, goals, and strategies throughout VVA; support committees, national staff, state councils, and chapters in their efforts to achieve the goals; and measure and recognize achievement.

The Proposed Strategic / Operational Planning Model

* The model is constructed from the bottom up.
* After the plans are completed, one can easily check the consistency of current activities with agreements made in preceding blocks.
* Thus, the strategic plan serves to keep the organization on course: in pursuit of its mission-consistent with realities in the environment- and aligned with the core values of its members.

Workplans - Action plans of individuals responsible for achieving the objectives.
Objectives - Major results needed to implement the strategy in certain time.
Roles - Who gets to do what to align resources and people with the plan.
Strategies -The grand design for achieving each goal.
Goals - Four of five "chunks" of the mission (area for achievement).
Mission - The "match" between the core values and the realities of the environment
determines the core business of the organization.
SWOT Analysis - Organization's strengths and weaknesses, plus anticipated opportunities and threats in the environment.
Core Values - Specific aspirations members hold for the organization.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Vietnam Veterans of America, the nation's largest and most successful Vietnam veterans organization, and the only Vietnam veterans organization chartered by Congress, is proud of what it has accomplished over the last twenty years. Those accomplishments are many and varied.
They include:

* Rebuilding the camaraderie of Vietnam-era veterans and providing a sense of self-worth and pride in service.
* Holding biennial National Leadership Conferences and National Conventions, which provide a forum for veterans and their families to interact with community leaders and their counterparts from across the country.
* Creating and maintaining our Vietnam Veterans Assistance Fund (VVAF), a philanthropic effort that provides financial assistance to VVA, its state councils, and its chapters.
* Taking the lead in working with homeless veterans, including sponsorships of national and local symposiums and stand-downs. Among many other milestones in this area, VVA worked with congressman Lane Evans to hold the first-ever hearing on homeless veterans in the House of Veterans Affairs committee in September of 1986.
* Developing a unique program as a national advocate for Vietnam veterans who were subsequently incarcerated, helping them gain access to VA benefits and services to which they are entitled.
* Leading the fight for full accounting of POW/MIAs for twenty years. We hold as a profound trust and obligation the responsibility to account for those American service members who remain unrepatriated, missing, or otherwise unaccounted for as a result of their service to our country during the Vietnam War.
* Initiating the successful Veterans Initiative program, a veteran-to-veteran effort that, since 1991, has promoted the direct exchange of information on unaccounted-for American servicemen and Vietnamese war casualties between American and Vietnamese veterans. The Veterans Initiative has produced measurable results towards full accounting on both sides.
* Taking the lead on women veterans' issues, including ensuring recognition of service access to benefits and appropriate medical treatment of women veterans in VA facilities.
* With "never again will one generation of veterans abandon another" as its founding principle, VVA has reached out to veterans of other conflicts, including providing office space and significant tangible support to the National Gulf War Resource Center.
* Single-handedly leading the fight for judicial review of disabled veterans' claims for benefits. The result: In 1988, Congress passed a law creating the U.S. Court of Veterans appeals. This allowed veterans to appeal VA benefits denials to a court and required VA to obey the rule of law.
* Spearheading a long and successful lobbying effort to establish and maintain the Vet Center program.
* Providing unwavering advocacy for congressional passage of laws supporting increased job training and job-placement assistance for unemployed and underemployed Vietnam-era veterans.
* Taking the lead on minority veterans' issues, including early and staunch support for the creation of the Center of Minority Veterans and the Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans Affairs.
* VVA has been the major force on the issue of Agent Orange for the past two decades. Our Nehmer v. Veterans Administration lawsuit, filed in 1986, forced the VA to begin compensating veterans with diseases linked to Agent Orange. VVA convinced Congress to pass the Agent Orange Act of 1991, which required the National Academy of Sciences to report on what diseases were related to Agent Orange. As a result, VA now pays compensation for nine such diseases.
* Being responsible for a 1996 law that, for the first time in our nation's history, provides medical care and compensation to the children of veterans whose parents suffer genetic damage from their military service-in this case Vietnam veterans' children with the birth defect spina bifida, which has been linked to their parents' exposure to Agent Orange.
* Running the Veterans Benefits Program, which provides education to veterans about government benefits to which they are entitled and trains individuals to represent veterans in their claims to secure benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Appeals.
* Consistently winning a higher percentage of cases at the VA's Board of Veteran's Appeals than any other veterans organization. VVA also has increased the number of cases they handle at the BVA, to an all-time high in FY 1998.

WHO ARE THE VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA?

Founded in 1978, Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc. is the only national Vietnam veterans organization congressionally chartered and exclusively dedicated to Vietnam-era veterans and their families. VVA is organized as a not-for-profit corporation and is tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(19) of the Internal Revenue Service Code.
VVA'S FOUNDING PRINCIPLE
"Never again shall one generation of veterans abandon another."
GOALS
VVA's goals are to promote and support the full range of issues important to Vietnam veterans, to create a new identity for this generation of veterans, and to change public perception of Vietnam veterans.
OUR FIRST PRINCIPLE
VVA holds as its first principle that the organization is measured by deeds and openness as evidence of the core values of justice, integrity, and meaningful achievement.
ORGANIZATION

Over 50,000 individual members.

43 state councils.

525 local chapters.

national board of directors

SPECIAL PROGRAMS

* Government Relations Advocacy on the range of veterans issues.
* National Task Force for Homeless Veterans.
* Health care for veterans, including disabled veterans.
* Issues pertaining to women and minority veterans.
* National scholarship fund.
* Program providing assistance to veterans seeking benefits/services from the government.

FUNDING
Vietnam Veterans of America relies totally on private contributions for its revenue. VVA does not receive any funding from federal, state, or local governments.

The purpose of Vietnam Veterans of America's national organization

The purpose of Vietnam Veterans of America's national organization, the state councils, and chapters is:

* To help foster, encourage, and promote the improvement of the condition of the Vietnam veteran.
* To promote physical and cultural improvement, growth and development, self-respect, self-confidence, and usefulness of Vietnam-era veterans and others.
* To eliminate discrimination suffered by Vietnam veterans and to develop channels of communications which will assist Vietnam veterans to maximize self-realization and enrichment of their lives and enhance life-fulfillment.
* To study, on a non-partisan basis, proposed legislation, rules, or regulations introduced in any federal, state, or local legislative or administrative body which may affect the social, economic, educational, or physical welfare of the Vietnam-era veteran or others; and to develop public-policy proposals designed to improve the quality of life of the Vietnam-era veteran and others especially in the areas of employment, education, training, and health.
* To conduct and publish research, on a non-partisan basis, pertaining to the relationship between Vietnam-era veterans and the American society, the Vietnam War experience, the role of the United States in securing peaceful co-existence for the world community, and other matters which affect the social, economic, educational, or physical welfare of the Vietnam-era veteran or others.
* To assist disabled and needy war veterans including, but not limited to, Vietnam veterans and their dependents, and the widows and orphans of deceased veterans.

A SHORT HISTORY OF VVA

Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) is the only national Vietnam veterans organization congressionally chartered and exclusively dedicated to Vietnam-era veterans and their families.

By the late 1970s, it was clear the established veterans groups had failed to make a priority of the issues of concern to Vietnam veterans. As a result, a vacuum existed within the nation's legislative and public agenda. In January 1978, a small group of Vietnam veteran activists came to Washington, D.C., searching for allies to support the creation of an advocacy organization devoted exclusively to the needs of Vietnam veterans. VVA, initially known as the Council of Vietnam Veterans, began its work. At the end of its first year of operation in 1979, the total assets were $46,506.

Council members believed that if the nation's attention was focused on the specific needs of Vietnam veterans, a grateful nation would quickly take remedial steps. However, despite persuasive arguments before Congress, which were amplified by highly supportive editorials printed in many leading American newspapers, they failed to win even a single legislative victory to bring new and needed programs into creation to help Vietnam veterans and their families.

It soon became apparent that arguments couched simply in terms of morality, equity, and justice were not enough. The U.S. Congress would respond to the legitimate needs of Vietnam veterans only if the organization professing to represent them had political strength. In this case, strength translated into numbers which meant membership. By the summer of 1979, the Council of Vietnam Veterans had transformed into Vietnam Veterans of America, a veterans service organization made up of, and devoted to, Vietnam veterans.

Hindered by the lack of substantial funding for development, the growth of membership was at first slow. The big breakthrough came when the American hostages were returned from Iran in January 1981. It was as if America went through an emotional catharsis that put the issues of the Vietnam era on the table for public discussion. The question was asked why parades for the hostages but not for Vietnam veterans? Many veterans complained about the lack of recognition and appreciation for past national service. Vietnam-era veterans wanted action in the form of programs that would place the latest generation of veterans on the same footing as veterans from previous wars.

Membership grew steadily, and for the first time, VVA secured significant contributions. The combination of the public's willingness to talk about the Vietnam War and the basic issues that it raised, as well as the veterans themselves coming forward, was augmented by the nation's dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in November 1982. The week-long activities rekindled a sense of brotherhood among the veterans and a feeling that they shared an experience that was too significant to ignore.

In 1983, VVA took a significant step by founding Vietnam Veterans of America Legal Services (VVALS) to provide assistance to veterans seeking benefits and services from the government. By working under the theory that a veteran representative should be an advocate for the veteran rather than simply a facilitator, VVALS quickly established itself as the most competent and aggressive legal-assistance program available to veterans. VVALS published the most comprehensive manual ever developed for veteran service representatives, and in 1985, VVALS wrote the widely acclaimed Viet Vet Survival Guide -- over 150,000 copies of which are now in print.

The next several years saw VVA grow in size, stature, and prestige. VVA's professional membership services, veterans service, and advocacy work gained the respect of Congress and the veterans community. In 1986, VVA's exemplary work was formally acknowledged by the granting of a congressional charter.

Today, Vietnam Veterans of America has a national membership of approximately 50,000, with 525 chapters throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. VVA state councils coordinate the activities of local chapters. VVA places great emphasis on coordinating its national activities and programs with the work of its local chapters and state councils and is organized to ensure that victories gained at the national level are implemented locally.

VVA strives for individual and group empowerment and locally originated action to assist veterans and other needy members of their communities. These volunteer programs offer unique and innovative services to an ever-widening population. They include: support for homeless shelters; substance-abuse education projects and crime-prevention campaigns; sponsorship of youth sports, Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts, Big Brothers/Big Sisters; and relief to other communities affected by natural disasters and chronic poverty.

VVA is governed by a national board of directors and by national officers -- 24 women and men democratically elected by VVA delegates, are sent by their respective chapters to biennial conventions. VVA's essential purpose is to promote the educational, economic, health, cultural, and emotional readjustment of the Vietnam-era veteran to civilian life. This is done by promoting legislation and public-awareness programs to eliminate discrimination suffered by Vietnam veterans.

VVA's government-relations efforts combine the three ingredients essential to success in the legislative arena -- lobbying, mobilizing constituents, and working with the media -- to achieve its ambitious agenda. Legislative victories have included the establishment and extension of the Vet Center system, passage of laws providing for increased job-training and job-placement assistance for unemployed and underemployed Vietnam-era veterans, the first laws assisting veterans suffering from Agent Orange exposure, and landmark legislation (i.e., Judicial Review of veterans claims) permitting veterans to challenge adverse VA decisions in court. All were enacted largely as a result of VVA's legislative efforts. The Vietnam-era Veterans in Congress (VVIC), formed in 1978, in part through the efforts of VVA, now boasts a membership of nearly 100 members of Congress.

VVA helps to provide greater public awareness of the outstanding issues surrounding Vietnam-era veterans by disseminating written information on a continual basis. The VVA Veteran ®, VVA's award-winning newspaper, is mailed to all VVA members and friends of the organization. In addition, self-help guides on issues such as Agent Orange, to Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, to discharge upgrading are published and made available to anyone interested.

Freedom Flight's POW / MIA Message From Above

Jim Tuorila’s most memorable hot air balloon flight comes with a small bit of irony attached to one of its more prominent elements—altitude. The veteran balloon pilot and co-founder of Freedom Flight, Inc., a non-profit organization that raises awareness as well as hot air balloons, had flown hundreds of times. But when one of his passengers requested that he take his distinctive black balloon with the easily recognizable POW/MIA logo to 5,000 feet, Tuorila acquiesced with little enthusiasm.

“I don’t like to fly high,” he said, laughing. “I’m afraid of heights. I can’t lean over the side of a tall building and feel comfortable. I probably wouldn’t be flying this balloon if it weren’t for the issue.”

But the POW/MIA issue and the balloon are inseparable. The striking black craft with its three 30-foot high POW/MIA logos is like no other and is easily spotted even in a sky like Albuquerque’s in October, when mass ascensions at the Albuquerque International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta might number more than a thousand colorful balloons in all shapes and sizes gliding over the city.

Tuorila’s three guests that day came with special significance. So he opened up the balloon’s gas burners and the black craft rose into the air. His passengers were women married to men still listed as MIA from the Vietnam War. He doesn’t remember which one asked that he fly to 5,000 feet, but Tuorila has been a psychologist at a VA Medical Center in Minnesota for 20 years; he was curious to see what would happen when they reached that altitude. Balloon flights generally skim the earth, the better to see and be seen. At 5,000 feet, people on the ground are barely able to see the balloon. He couldn’t imagine why his passenger wanted to climb that high.

He said that the moment they reached the requested altitude will stay with him forever.

“We get up there and she says this is the altitude the military said her husband was at when he ejected from his plane over Vietnam,” he said. “She wanted to see what the world looked like when he ejected. It touched me so deeply that I’ll never forget that flight with those women.”

Freedom Flight, the POW/MIA Hot Air Balloon Team, has flown in more than seven hundred events since its first flight in November 1989. The non-profit now has three balloons that attend 35 to 45 events a year, staffed entirely by volunteers. The organization grew out of Tuorila’s vocation—psychology—and his avocation—hot air balloons.

In 1981, while attending graduate school at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, he worked with a group of World War II ex-POWs called the “Lost Battalion,” all of them survivors of more than three years in Japanese prison camps. That work inspired Tuorila to write his doctoral dissertation on the effects of captivity, especially regarding the work of Victor Frankl and his famous writings following his own imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps.

While doing his doctoral internship at the Topeka, Kansas, VA Medical Center, Tuorila and his wife volunteered to crew for a hot air balloon. When he went to work in Minnesota, they saw a balloon in flight one day and decided to volunteer again.

In 1987, he appeared on a local TV program to talk about the emotional difficulties families face when a loved one returns after years of captivity. On the program he met the daughter of a Navy pilot shot down and declared MIA. The daughter told him that the government story of her father’s disappearance was very much at odds with the story told by her father’s wingman, who made a point of finding the pilot’s family to tell them the true story of the incident.

By then, Tuorila and his wife were crewing on a balloon flown by a Vietnam veteran who had been encouraging him to set up a non-profit with an eye toward calling attention to the POW/MIA issue.

Then one day at work, his professional life and his weekend life coalesced.

“I told my co-therapist, ‘You know, I’ve been flying and working with balloons for five years now. What about a black POW/MIA balloon? What kind of attention would that get?’ “

The co-therapist and co-founder of Freedom Flight, Vietnam veteran Bill Nohner, thought it was a great idea. A year later, Freedom Flight, Inc., obtained status as a non-profit educational organization.

In 1989, the first flight went up. Its first passenger was Henry Sha, a World War II veteran and ex-POW who happened to stop his car when the balloon landed nearby. Invited onboard, he didn’t hesitate.

Now in its sixteenth year, Freedom Flight continues to attract attention, sometimes through a little luck. At the 2005 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Tuorila volunteered to give rides to the media. A Voice of America camera crew making a documentary on the balloon fiesta accepted his offer. When the crew members found out who they were flying with, a new angle for the documentary emerged.

“When they found out what we were doing with the balloon, I think the program changed to include Freedom Flight and everything we were doing,” Tuorila said.

The change was in keeping with how Tuorila describes the past sixteen years. “The reception we’ve gotten over the years make the hair on the back of my neck stand up,” Tuorila said. “It’s been incredible. I’ve had what I assume to be a Vietnam veteran come up, put $100 in my pocket and say, ‘Keep it up,’ then walk away. I’ve had family members of the missing come up to me with tears in their eyes. I’ve had ex-POWs come up and thank us. Everywhere we go, the reception has been positive and overwhelming, and that keeps us flying.”

For more information on Freedom Flight go to www.freedomflight.org or call Jim Tuorila at 320-252-7208.

Honoring And Keeping Faith

On September 17, 1999, National POW/MIA Recognition Day, Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen officiated over a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.

One part of the ceremony was the dedication of the inscription on the cover of the empty crypt of the Vietnam Unknown. It reads: "Honoring and Keeping Faith with America's Missing Servicemen,'' an epilogue to the events that began on May 11, 1972, when Air Force 1st Lt. Michael J. Blassie, while flying a combat mission in his A-37 over South Vietnam, was brought down by enemy anti-aircraft fire. Several days later, remains were recovered and turned over to American authorities. Officially, the remains were listed as "believed to be'' those of Blassie.
Known testing methods, however, could not determine conclusively the identity.

U.S. Army authorities at the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii determined in the late 1970s that the identification of the remains was improbable and reclassified the remains as "unknown''. In 1983, a decision was made by DOD officials to inter these remains in the crypt of the Vietnam Unknown. President Reagan presided over the ceremony on November 11, 1984.

Twelve years later, following the receipt of a letter from Michael J. Blassie's mother, Secretary Cohen ordered the opening of the crypt and exhumation of the remains. Newly developed mitochondrial DNA analysis confirmed that the remains were Blassie's. In February 1998, the Pentagon announced that the crypt would remain empty and that an inscription would be carved into its cover.

In President Clinton's annual POW/MIA Recognition Day proclamation, he said: "On National POW/MIA Recognition Day, we remember with profound gratitude those who suffered captivity and those whose fate remains unknown. Many American POWs were tortured at the hands of their captors; all experienced the ordeal of being held against their will and the anguish of indefinite separation from their families and their homeland.

"Today we also honor the valiant families of our fellow citizens who remain missing--families who have had to suffer not only the absence of their loved ones but also the uncertainty of their fate. As Americans, we remain unshakable in our resolve to achieve the fullest possible accounting of those missing and to strive to bring home the remains of those who have died. Only by doing so can we begin to acknowledge the debt we owe to these patriots and assuage the grief of the families they left behind for the sake of our Nation.''

The Latest Numbers

The following summarizes American efforts to achieve the fullest possible accounting: 2,054 Americans remain unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War: Army: 651 (9 in northern Vietnam, 497 in southern Vietnam, 110 in Laos, 35 in Cambodia. Navy: 417 (286 in northern Vietnam, 92 in southern Vietnam, 28 in Laos, 3 in
Cambodia) Air Force: 683 (233 in northern Vietnam, 165 in southern Vietnam, 268 in Laos, 17 in Cambodia) Marine Corps: 263 (24 in northern Vietnam, 203 in southern Vietnam, 22 in Laos, 14 in Cambodia) Coast Guard:1 in southern Vietnam

In addition, 39 civilians remain unaccounted for from the Vietnam War: 22 in southern Vietnam; 12 in Laos; 5 in Cambodia.

A total of 529 Americans have been accounted for since 1973: 391 in Vietnam; 129 in Laos; 7 in Cambodia; and 2 in China. Since 1993, during the Clinton Administration, 160 Americans have been accounted for: 88 in Vietnam; 66 in Laos; and 6 in Cambodia.

History of the League's POW/MIA Flag

In 1971, Mrs. Michael Hoff, an MIA wife and member of the National League of Families, recognized the need for a symbol of our POW/MIAs. Prompted by an article in the Jacksonville, Florida Times-Union, Mrs. Hoff contacted Norman Rivkees, Vice President of Annin & Company which had made a banner for the newest member of the United Nations, the People’s Republic of China, as a part of their policy to provide flags to all United Nations members states. Mrs. Hoff found Mr. Rivkees very sympathetic to the POW/MIA issue, and he, along with Annin’s advertising agency, designed a flag to represent our missing men. Following League approval, the flags were manufactured for distribution.

On March 9, 1989, an official League flag, which flew over the White House on 1988 National POW/MIA Recognition Day, was installed in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda as a result of legislation passed overwhelmingly during the 100th Congress. In a demonstration of bipartisan Congressional support, the leadership of both Houses hosted the installation ceremony.

The League’s POW/MIA flag is the only flag ever displayed in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda where it will stand as a powerful symbol of national commitment to America’s POW/MIAs until the fullest possible accounting has been achieved for U.S. personnel still missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.
On August 10, 1990, the 101st Congress passed U.S. Public Law 101-355, which recognized the League’s POW/MIA flag and designated it "as the symbol of our Nation’s concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, thus ending the uncertainty for their families and the Nation".

The importance of the League’s POW/MIA flag lies in its continued visibility, a constant reminder of the plight of America’s POW/MIAs. Other than "Old Glory", the League’s POW/MIA flag is the only flag ever to fly over the White House, having been displayed in this place of honor on National POW/MIA Recognition Day since 1982. Passage by the 105th Congress of Section 1082 of the 1998 Defense Authorization Act requires that the League’s POW/MIA flag fly six days each year: Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, National POW/MIA Recognition Day and Veterans Day. It must be displayed at the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Departments of State, Defense and Veterans Affairs, headquarters of the Selective Service System, major military installations as designated by the Secretary of the Defense, all Federal cemeteries and all offices of the U.S. Postal Service. By law passed in 2002, it must fly year-round at the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial and the World War II Memorial.

POSSIBILITY OF LIVE POW/MIAs, AND FACILITATING THE RETURN OF THOSE WHO REMAIN IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

Issue:

VVA has formally acknowledged the possibility of live Americans being left in Southeast Asia at the end of the Vietnam War. The issue of those Americans who remain unaccounted for as a result of the Vietnam War is still a matter of great concern for members of Vietnam Veterans of America and all Americans.

Background:

Many members of VVA believe that American POWs and MIAs were left behind at the end of the Vietnam War. Testimony and documents gathered over the years, and those documents disclosed during the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs hearings and the Military Personnel Subcommittee of the 104th Congress, add considerable weight to this belief. VVA has been and continues to be actively involved in attempts to arrive at the fullest possible accounting of American POWs and MIAs. Through the resolution process, the VVA POW/MIA Committee is directed to research, analyze, and seek information regarding our POW/MIAs. In addition, the Veterans Initiative project is designed to provide the opportunity for a veteran-to-veteran dialogue regarding information that may eventually help resolve the fate of many Americans. So that it may be presented at appropriate times during discussions, VVA leaders need to know the position of the members regarding the possibility of live Americans who have been unable to return home. There continue to be reports and indications of Americans living by choice or otherwise in Vietnam and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Whether in prisoner status or not, it is in the interests of family members and Vietnam Veterans of America that VVA provide whatever assistance possible to facilitate the return of these Americans, if they so desire, with no punitive action by U.S. authorities.

Resolved, That:

Vietnam Veterans of America, recognizes and acknowledges that the preponderance of information substantiates that there exist the possibility that there may be live American POWs and/or other Americans held against their will from the Vietnam War that are unable to return home, and directs that the POW/MIA Committee and the Veterans Initiative Task Force in their efforts must bring to the discussion this position. VVA also urges that all intelligence documents concerning this issue must be declassified, that should a missing American surface in those countries, such an individual would not face punitive action or monetary penalty, and that the U.S. government would take further steps to facilitate repatriation of any such American, and the immediate family members, if any, who choose to return to the United States. VVA stands ready to facilitate the return of any missing American who has been living in Southeast Asia or any other foreign country since the end of the Vietnam War and to provide legal assistance as determined by the National Board of Directors of VVA on a case-by-case basis to such an individual regardless of status.

Further, VVA will seek and support legislation that protects such an individual and/or his family from punitive action or monetary penalty.

Financial Impact Statement: In accordance with motion 8 passed at VVA January 2002 National Board of Directors meeting which charges this committee with the reviewing of its relevant Resolutions and determining an expenditure estimate required to implement the Resolution, presented for consideration at the 2005 National Convention; this committee submits that implementation of the foregoing Resolution shall be at no cost to National.

HONORING ALL RETURNED POW’S, AND GIVING

RECOGNITION OF AMERICAN CIVILIANS HELD AS POW/INTERNED DURING WWII

(PM-4-95, PM-10-95 & PM-11-99)

Issue:

For many Vietnam-era veterans, the prospect of capture and imprisonment was an auxiliary burden added to the possibility of death or disability, resulting from service in Southeast Asia.

Recognizing the suffering and hardship endured by 18,745 American civilian prisoners of war during World War II.

Recognition of extraordinary service rendered to resolve the issue of prisoners and missing from the Vietnam War and other conflicts.

Background:

In early 1973, Vietnam released 591 prisoners of war. These and others who escaped or were released earlier deserve the respect of all Vietnam veterans for their sacrifices and hardships.

During World War II, American civilians were incarcerated by the Axis nations. This violated international human rights principles. These civilians were subjected to barbaric prison conditions and endured torture, starvation, and disease. Their sacrifice has never received formal recognition.

Substantial resources and personnel of the U.S. government and its citizens have been and are being dedicated to bringing resolution to the issue of prisoners and missing from the Vietnam War and other conflicts.

Resolved, That:

Vietnam Veterans of America declares its respect and admiration for those of our fellow comrades-in-arms of the Vietnam War and all of this nation’s wars who endured and survived captivity. VVA also extends to the families of ex-POWs our deepest respect. VVA urges all of its chapters and state councils to seek opportunities to honor local ex-POWs and their families.

VVA recognizes the suffering and hardship endured by American civilian prisoners of war during World War II and commends these brave men and women and their families for their extraordinary service to our nation. Furthermore, VVA desires that Congress enact legislation to formally recognize the sacrifices of these individuals.

Further, VVA commends the extraordinary service rendered by those public servants, military personnel, and citizens who have devoted their life, vocation, time, and personal resources to resolving the issue of prisoners and missing from the Vietnam War and other conflicts.

Financial Impact Statement: In accordance with motion 8 passed at VVA January 2002 National Board of Directors meeting which charges this committee with the reviewing of its relevant Resolutions and determining an expenditure estimate required to implement the Resolution, presented for consideration at the 2005 National Convention; this committee submits that implementation of the foregoing Resolution shall be at no cost to National.

AMERICANS MISSING IN LAOS AND CAMBODIA

(PM-2-95 & PM-9-95)

Issue:

The United States of America and the governments of Laos and Cambodia currently have diplomatic relations. The pace of resolution of the remaining cases of Americans missing in Laos has improved; however, it is slow, there are still unresolved cases of Americans missing in Cambodia. There is a need to have multiple border crossing from Laos to Cambodia and from Cambodia to Vietnam. As of this date, approximately sixty-seven Americans still remain unaccounted for in Cambodia. There is a need to continue increasing the number of investigations concerning Americans missing in Laos.

Background:

During the Vietnam War diplomatic relations with Laos were never broken and continue to this day. Prior to and during the war, the central Laotian government was neutral. The communist faction that was active during the Vietnam War is now the governing party of Laos.

Efforts at securing information relating to missing Americans in Laos have heretofore been focused on the Vietnamese government because a large majority of U.S. losses in Laos were in areas controlled by the North Vietnamese forces. As of this date, approximately 381 Americans still remain unaccounted for from Laos.

Efforts at securing information on Americans missing in Cambodia have been stymied due to relationships between Vietnam and Cambodia. Many unresolved cases being investigated in Cambodia require a crossing of borders from Cambodia to Laos and Laos to Cambodia. As of this date, approximately sixty-seven Americans still remain unaccounted for in Cambodia.

Resolved, That:

Vietnam Veterans of America strongly recommends that:

1. The governments of Laos and Cambodia continue to exhibit and increase cooperation in granting unrestricted access to its territory, records, and witnesses to incidences of missing Americans.

2. The United States government provides all resources necessary in Laos and Cambodia to insure the fullest possible accounting of those Americans missing in Laos and Cambodia.

3. The governments of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam cooperate with the United States on the following points:

(a) The governments of Laos and Cambodia continue to expedite and permit unannounced live-sighting investigations and unfettered access to, and spontaneous interviews with witnesses by U.S. investigators.

(b) The governments of Laos and Cambodia continue to issue multiple-entry visas to U.S. teams investigating POW/MIA cases in the border areas between Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

(c) The governments of Laos and Cambodia continue to issue multiple-entry visas to U.S. teams investigating POW/MIA cases in the border area between Laos and Cambodia.

4. VVA commends the Laos government for its increased cooperation with the U.S. government in resolving cases of U.S. service personnel unaccounted for in Laos, and urges the Laos government to increase the pace and scope of these activities.

5. Failure to provide the above required assistance will result in a recommendation by VVA to the U.S. government to downgrade or discontinue diplomatic relations with Cambodia.

Financial Impact Statement: In accordance with motion 8 passed at VVA January 2002 National Board of Directors meeting which charges this committee with the reviewing of its relevant Resolutions and determining an expenditure estimate required to implement the Resolution, presented for consideration at the 2005 National Convention; this committee submits that implementation of the foregoing Resolution shall be at no cost to National.

DECLASSIFICATION OF INFORMATION AND DILIGENT EFFORT

(PM-1-95 & PM-3-95)

Issue:

Virtually all of the factual information regarding live Americans in Vietnam and elsewhere in Southeast Asia is in classified documents that are unavailable to all but intelligence agency personnel. In recent years, continuing allegations of incompetence, dishonesty, disinformation, and lack of diligent effort have been leveled against the U.S. government and its principal agencies for their failure to resolve the status of American personnel still unaccounted for. In addition, a previously released congressional report, charge that the U.S. government demonstrated at minimum a lack of diligence in demanding an accounting of those missing in action or known to have been taken prisoner.

Background:

For a number of years, there have been reports as well as much speculation, personal opinion, and hypothesis that there are living Americans being held against their will in Southeast Asia. In the absence of factual information, incomplete or false information has been circulated in this country and in Southeast Asia. With respect to POW/MIAs in Southeast Asia, these allegations, if true, contradict the public commitments by former Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton that resolution of the POW/MIA issue is ‘of the highest national priority’. These allegations have evoked proposals for congressional and internal agency investigations. While these investigations may reveal the existence and extent of any lack of diligence, they may equally distract government resources from the continuing search for answers as to the fate of those still missing.

Resolved, That:

Vietnam Veterans of America acknowledges the U.S. government efforts to accelerate the declassification of those documents and materials essential to the resolution of this issue, and further to publish and disseminate this material to interested parties upon request. Realizing there is still much to be done, VVA strongly urges and supports the continuing efforts to declassify all intelligence reports and all other classified documents related to American POW/MIA’s. Such declassified documents shall respect legitimate concerns for U.S. intelligence methods, the privacy of families, and the freedom and safety of the source of the information.

Furthermore, VVA affirms that the repatriation of any live prisoner of war merits substantial priority over the return of remains and other issues that are the subject of negotiation between the U.S. and Vietnamese governments. VVA calls for the substantial upgrading of intelligence-collection and analysis capability, including on-the-ground resources and new personnel in the evaluation process.

Finally, VVA most forcefully urges all parties to this controversial issue to immediately cease and desist in recriminations regarding alleged "misinformation," "cover-up," and "conspiracy" and instead focus all energies toward obtaining the fullest and most complete answers possible to the compelling and agonizing questions which remain regarding the fate of missing Americans in Southeast Asia. VVA continues to demand the U.S. government’s commitment to act decisively to return any Americans confirmed in captivity and urges Congress to request an investigation by the General Accounting Office (GAO) of activities by current or former government officials responsible for the POW/MIA accounting process.

Financial Impact Statement: In accordance with motion 8 passed at VVA January 2002 National Board of Directors meeting which charges this committee with the reviewing of its relevant Resolutions and determining an expenditure estimate required to implement the Resolution, presented for consideration at the 2005 National Convention; this committee submits that implementation of the foregoing Resolution shall be at no cost to National.

FULLEST POSSIBLE ACCOUNTING OF POW/MIAs IN VIETNAM

(PM-8-95)

Issue:

Vietnam Veterans of America has a long-established position opposing further normalization of diplomatic and economic relations between the United States and Vietnam until the fullest possible accounting of POW/MIAs lost in the Vietnam War has been achieved.

Background:

At every opportunity, VVA has urged the United States government to continue to press the Vietnamese government to increase its unilateral efforts and to demonstrate greater cooperation by facilitating follow-up of live sighting reports, expanding its participation in joint remains recovery efforts, opening its wartime archives, and helping to locate Vietnamese citizens and soldiers who witnessed incidents of loss. Since the establishment of the Joint Task Force Full Accounting (JTF-FA) in early 1992, U.S. officials directly involved with the accounting process have claimed that the Vietnamese government has recently demonstrated increased cooperation in resolving the fate of American POW/MIAs and that American field investigators have been able to follow up live sighting reports with very little prior clearance by local Vietnamese officials, and that the number of joint remains recovery teams operating throughout Vietnam has increased. Despite U.S. government claims, American specialists have been given only limited access to Vietnamese national and local wartime archives and to witnesses of incidents of loss. Vietnam has provided alleged witnesses for trilateral investigations with American and Laos teams in those areas of Laos controlled during the war by Vietnamese armed forces; however, Vietnam has not yet provided relevant documents to help resolve such cases.

U.S. government officials attribute Vietnam’s increased cooperation for joint activities to the lifting of the trade embargo in February 1994 and the agreement to open embassies in Washington and Hanoi.

Even these U.S. government officials, however, have reported that the Vietnamese government has not been fully candid about information it is believed to have on MIAs last known to be alive and those who died in captivity, as well as other discrepancy cases.

On July 11, 1999, despite the opposition of VVA and other veterans and family organizations, President Clinton announced the establishment of diplomatic relations with Vietnam. On May 9, 1999, this decision resulted in the opening of an American embassy in Hanoi and Vietnam’s embassy in Washington, D.C. There are, however, further steps in the ‘normalization’ process that have not yet been taken, such as extending Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) insurance, which safeguards private investments in foreign countries, and Normal Trade Relations (NTR) status, which greatly reduces tariffs on goods imported from NTR countries.

Resolved, That:

Vietnam Veterans of America strongly urges that:

1. The President of the United States continue, as a matter of highest priority, to press the Vietnamese government for the fullest possible accounting of POW/MIAs lost in the Vietnam War through both joint and unilateral activities.

2. Priority of effort be placed on accounting for a) any American POW/MIAs who may still be alive in Southeast Asia, and b) those last known alive or known to have died in captivity.

3. The President measure progress on fullest possible accounting by the four criteria established in 1994 by the Clinton administration:

a) Concrete results from efforts on Vietnam’s part to recover and repatriate American remains;

b) Continued resolution of remaining discrepancy cases, live sightings, and field activities;

c) Further assistance in implementing trilateral investigation with Laos; and

d) Accelerated efforts to provide all POW/MIA-related documents that will help lead to genuine answers. VVA endorses the definition of ‘fullest possible accounting’ that has been accepted by the major veterans service organizations and the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia: namely, the repatriation of a live American POW/MIA, the return of his remains, or compelling evidence why neither of these is possible. VVA affirms that the impact of our position on this issue is strengthened when we are able to work cooperatively with these other organizations.

With respect to OPIC, NTR status, and other steps toward normalization of relations with Vietnam, VVA most strongly urges the President to certify to Congress and the American people that the Vietnamese Government has demonstrated measurably increased unilateral efforts that have yielded concrete results in terms of accounting for American POW/MIAs. Moreover, VVA urges the President to hold to his commitment to the major veterans service organizations and the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia to seek their input prior to considering such decisions.

Financial Impact Statement: In accordance with motion 8 passed at VVA January 2002 National Board of Directors meeting which charges this committee with the reviewing of its relevant Resolutions and determining an expenditure estimate required to implement the Resolution, presented for consideration at the 2005 National Convention; this committee submits that implementation of the foregoing Resolution shall be at no cost to National.

PUBLIC AWARENESS AND EDUCATION ON THE POW/MIA FLAG

(PM-6-95, PM-12-01 & PM-13-01)

Issue:

Over 1,885 Americans who served in the armed forces during the Vietnam War in Indochina are still unaccounted for. This nation is deeply indebted to its veterans for their courage and sacrifice and should demonstrate its dedication to those missing and to their families for the fullest possible accounting of those still missing.

In 1971, Mrs. Michael Hoff, a MIA wife and member of the National League of Families, recognized the need for a symbol of our POW/MIAs. Prompted by an article in the Jacksonville Florida Times-Union, Mrs. Hoff contacted Norman Rivkees, Vice-President of Annin & Company, which had made a banner for the newest member of the United Nations, the People’s Republic of China, as part of their policy to provide flags to all United Nations member states. Mrs. Hoff found Mr. Rivkees very sympathetic to the POW/MIA issue, and he, along with Annin advertising agency, designed a flag to represent our missing men. Following League approval, the flags were manufactured for distribution.

There is no consistency among VVA units displaying or carrying colors regarding the use or position of the POW/MIA flag in official VVA represented events or meetings. There is no U.S. government publication specifying the protocol for use or display of the POW/MIA flag.

Background:

On March 9, 1989, an official League flag, which flew over the White House in 1988, for National POW/MIA Recognition Day, was installed in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda as a result of legislation passed overwhelmingly during the 100th Congress. In a demonstration of bipartisan congressional support, the leadership of both Houses hosted the installation ceremony. The League’s POW/MIA flag is the only flag ever displayed in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda where it will stand as a powerful symbol of national commitment to America’s POW/MIAs until the fullest possible accounting has been achieved for U.S. personnel still missing and unaccounted for.

On August 10, 1990, the 101st Congress passed U.S. Public Law 101-355, which recognized the League’s POW/MIA flag and designated it as the symbol of our Nation’s concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, thus ending the uncertainty for their families and the Nation.

Vietnam Veterans of America recognizes the importance of the League’s POW/MIA flag lies in its continued visibility, a constant reminder of the plight of America’s POW/MIAs. Other than ‘Old Glory’, the League’s POW/MIA flag is the only flag ever to fly over the White House, having been displayed in the place of honor on National POW/MIA Recognition Day in 1982. With passage of Section 1082 of the 1998 Defense Authorization Act during the first term of the 105th Congress, the League’s POW/MIA flag will fly each year on six designated federal holidays: Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, National POW/MIA Recognition Day, and Veterans Day on the grounds or in public lobbies of major military installations as designated by the Secretary of Defense, all Federal National Cemeteries, the National Korean War Veterans Memorial, the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the White House, the United States Postal Service post offices, and at the official offices of the Secretaries of State, Defense, Veteran Affairs, and Director of the Selective Service System.

Resolution PM-6-99, POW/MIA Flag & Public-Awareness Campaigns, states that “VVA supports …organizations committed to generating public awareness on the POW/MIA issue… ”The National League of Families is such an organization. The League of Families has published documentation suggesting the use and positioning of the POW/MIA Flag.

Resolved, That:

Vietnam Veterans of America desires that Congress enact legislation that allows and recommends the flying of the POW/MIA flag be flown daily at all facilities owned and operated by the U.S. government, including U.S. postal services facilities and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. VVA urges state, county, and municipal governments to enact similar legislation. In addition, VVA will continue to participate in and encourage meaningful public-awareness programs aimed at keeping our organization in the forefront of seeking solutions to these issues. VVA supports responsible efforts on the part of groups and organizations committed to generating public awareness on the POW/MIA issue, provided that such programs are responsible, non-confrontational, respectful of our fallen and missing comrades, and consistent with VVA's convention resolutions.

Vietnam Veterans of America further encourages and supports compliance of U.S. Public Law 101-355. We further resolved to continue our efforts to educate public officials and others on the history and meaning of the POW/MIA flag and it’s proper display under P.L. 101-355.

Furthermore, Vietnam Veterans of America recognizes that any official VVA function displaying the national colors should include the POW/MIA flag; the POW/MIA flag shall be posted or flown to the immediate left of the national colors. All other flags used in the display shall be flown to the left of the POW/MIA flag following published guidelines for positioning protocol.

Financial Impact Statement: In accordance with motion 8 passed at VVA January 2002 National Board of Directors meeting which charges this committee with the reviewing of its relevant Resolutions and determining an expenditure estimate required to implement the Resolution, presented for consideration at the 2005 National Convention; this committee submits that implementation of the foregoing Resolution shall be at no cost to National.

In The Shadow Of The Blade: A Story Of Reconciliation and Coming To Terms

In the Shadow of the Blade, a documentary film that follows the flight of a restored UH-1H Huey helicopter, leads to people and places stretching across 10,000 miles of America. It leads to memories and loved ones and the never-ending pain of great loss. It leads to Landing Zones scheduled and Landing Zones found along the way, and last-minute requests from people who ask: "Can you land here?"

The heart of the film is found in veterans who still look skyward at the sound of a helicopter's blades slapping the air; it leads to families imagining a loved one dying alone in a faraway place. It leads to a reunion of a door gunner and the man whose life he saved; a sister's flight with her brother's commanding officer and his pilot as they remember the last day of his life; a former POW who will climb into a Huey for the first time since he was shot down in 1968; a daughter's flight in the co-pilot's seat in memory of her father who died in Vietnam; a Gold Star Mother who still grieves for a son; a memorial built in a mountain valley by the father of a Marine.

It leads to Mary Padilla in Rio Rancho, N.M., when she says of her grievously wounded husband coming home from Vietnam in a wheelchair: "Love is not a burden."

In October 2002, Patrick and Cheryl Fries of Austin, Texas, lifted off with their Arrowhead Film and Video Production crew in a restored Huey to fly across America to record what would become a remarkably moving film. The creator of scores of documentaries, television commercials, and corporate branding campaigns over a 20-year career, Patrick Fries set out on a project like no other he'd seen in his career, calling the people he ran into in the course of making the film "some of the most inspiring people I have met."

He found he had made a movie that changed lives, including his.

"You'd think that after 33 years the wounds would be healed up," Patrick Fries said. "I had no idea that by scratching the surface the wounds would be so fresh."

His wife, Cheryl, creative director and producer of the film, underscores the impact of the stories they recorded.

"We knew the stories would be moving, but what we didn't know was the power that would be unleashed," she said.

About four years ago, on a long helicopter flight across Texas, Patrick Fries chatted up the pilot, a Vietnam veteran. Encouraged by the conversation, the pilot recounted experiences from the Vietnam War. He talked about the Hueys flying in and out all day. It seemed as if the air was never empty. Always there was a Huey up there somewhere.

Fries, a longtime documentary filmmaker with no connection to the Vietnam War either through his own experience or with family members, reflected on the films of the war. He had seen many documentaries on Vietnam and thought it had all been done. There was nothing to tell.

Then he asked the pilot a question: What if you could fly one of those Hueys across America and take it back to the people who depended on it every day?

"The thing that struck me was that every person, whether they were administrative or a cook or a grunt or a pilot, they all had a Huey story," Fries said. "The one common thing to all those people was the Huey. What really fascinated me was what about all the average guys who gave up their lives in Vietnam? Who's going to tell their story? Who cares about them? That's what drove me."

The pilot thought it a grand idea to fly a Huey across America, but told Fries that the filmmaker never would be able to pull it off. Hueys were too hard to find. They were classified as experimental aircraft and very few were in private ownership.

"It will be impossible to find one and get it to fly and land it in these places you're talking about," the pilot said. "It's impossible."

"He was almost right," Fries said.

Back home in Austin, Fries told Cheryl that he had a great idea for a filmfly a Huey across America.

Cheryl Fries remembers her reaction well: "I said, ' What's a Huey?' "

She did an Internet search and found the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association. She sent an e-mail to the webmaster, Gary Roush. He would become the film's mission historian, working long hours to verify the accuracy of every story told in the documentary. It just so happened that the association's annual reunion was the next week. The Fries attended the reunion at Roush's suggestion, walking around with a camera, talking with pilots, filming conversations. When they returned home and reviewed the tape, they knew they had a powerful story.

"I figured out pretty quick that for veterans and people on the perimeter of Vietnam that just sitting in a static display of a Huey [at the reunion] had some power," Patrick Fries said. "Then I thought, ' What's going to happen if we allow a woman who lost her father in Vietnam to actually fly, to take the controls of the same kind of helicopter her father flew? What will happen to her? What will we learn and what will she learn? ' I thought it would be pretty cool if we could pull it off."

It took two more years to get it off the ground. One potentially fatal setback came when they thought they'd solved their most difficult problemfinding a helicopter. A Huey belonging to a sheriff's department in Florida had been confirmed for use in the film but at the last minute was pulled.

Two years later, someone from the Texas Air Command Museum accidentally found the Fries' websitewww.intheshadowoftheblade.com and called them.

"You looking for a Huey?" he asked. "We have one."

The Bell helicopter's official name is 65-10091, but goes by 091. Shot up twice and crashed in the Vietnam War, the helicopter itself is a Vietnam veteran that went on to serve in the Army, Navy, Army Reserve, National Guard, and NASA. During the war, more than 7,000 Hueys flew in Vietnam. Nearly half were lost. The Hueys flew more combat hours than any aircraft in history. More than 900,000 patients were airlifted by the workhorse helicopters.

091 was flown by the 173rd Assault Helicopter Company, "The Robin Hoods," in Vietnam. Among the more than 50 Vietnam helicopter pilots to fly 091 during the film was Ernie Bruce. This time around, his daughters flew with him. In New Mexico, a Native American blessed 091 with sage. In Georgia, an artist painted a talisman on it. The helicopter carried veterans, sons daughters, and wives, landing when and where it could and drawing an appreciative audience at every LZ.

When the filming ended, the helicopter was donated to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History for inclusion in a permanent exhibit scheduled to open on Veterans Day 2004.

The filmmakers made a point of assembling a crew of Vietnam veterans:

Retired Lt. Col. Bob Baird, co-pilot and mission logistics coordinator, who served 20 years in the Army with two tours in Vietnam. Bill McDonald, mission chaplain, a former crew chief for the 128th Assault Helicopter Company. Gary Roush, mission historian, a former helicopter pilot with the 242nd Assault Support Helicopter Company. Mike Venable, mission co-pilot, who flew with the 129th and 134th Helicopter Assault Companies.

The Fries conducted many interviews with veterans, logging more than 200 hours of taped interviews, reunions, and ceremonies.

"One of our philosophical principles was that we wanted to stay as close as possible to the history of the veterans at every opportunity," Cheryl Fries said. "So we involved veterans at every level. We always had a Vietnam veteran in the left seat of the aircraft and we had veterans planning the LZs and doing a lot of the crew work. Accuracy was non-negotiable. There was a great deal of respect about this being sacred ground for the people telling the stories. We were committed to being respectful of the veterans and families we were interviewing. In the years of pre-production, we interviewed hundreds of veterans. That's how we formed the philosophical base for the film."

Patrick Fries believed that had they not been faithful to the experience of the veterans, many of the stories would not have been told.

"If you're not accurate, people don't want to talk to you," he said. "They don't want to open up their stories and their photo albums and their pain and suffering only to have it not told accurately."

Accompanied by three support vehicles and an aerial cinematography helicopter, the Fries estimate they flew 10,000 miles, a figure arrived at by Logistics Coordinator Bob Baird, who logged the miles on his SUV between Ft. Rucker, Alabama, and the flight's final LZ, the Angel Fire National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the mountains of northern New Mexico.

They scheduled 25 Landing Zones and guess at a final tally of 42, a number they are unable to nail down with any precision because many LZs popped up at the last minute, and all followed Patrick Fries' rule: Don't land on concrete unless absolutely necessary.

So they put down in front yards and back yards and farm yards and pastures and open fields. Their Web page provides an LZ road map: 3 farmyards, 4 backyards, 1 elementary school, 1 church, 1 town square, 1 hospital, 1 VFW hall, 2 high schools, 4 museums, 3 military bases, 5 parks, 5 universities, and the Ft. Gordon POW/MIA Memorial.

They found a daughter who lost her father and a Vietnamese baby saved by Americans. They visited pilots and crew members, triage nurses, Red Cross "Donut Dollies," and USO entertainers. They met family members who told heartbreaking stories of loss. In some cases, people had carried the terrible burden of imagining loved ones dying alone until they met the men who had held their loved ones when they died.

"I had no idea that a mother or sister's darkest fear was that their son or brother had died alone," Patrick Fries said. "You think that when someone is killed, the biggest loss is the loss of life. You can't celebrate birthdays and Christmases together. But to hear them say the worst part of the whole thing is they were told their loved one died alone somewhere in a jungle thousands of miles from home was very difficult. I had no idea what they grieved for. People die and many, many years later, the war is as present in their children's hearts as the day they died. From the family members to the hardcore veteran who hadn't shed a tear in 34 years, it was way more than we ever bargained for."

Cheryl Fries remembers a Gold Star Mother who came to a Huey LZ.

"She talked about her son," she said. "This was a woman who heard the Huey was coming to her town and came out to see it. We'd never met her before. She was clutching a photograph of him. She pointed to her Gold Star and said, ' This is all I have left. ' That family lives with that loss every day."

Fries spoke of a Georgia veteran who held a dying comrade in his arms as the man asked the veteran to tell his wife that he loved her. Thirty-four years later, through the hard detective work of Gary Roush and what Cheryl Fries called a "series of miracles," the filmmakers were able to locate the man's widow and put her in touch with the soldier who held her dying husband in his arms. Each said the experience helped to heal wounds that had been painful through all the years.

The film ends in Angel Fire, N.M., with the Huey settling in for a landing in a cloud of swirling snow behind the chapel at the Angel Fire Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The memorial was built by the late Victor Westphall to honor his son, David, a Marine officer killed in Vietnam, and all other Vietnam veterans. Westphall peeked out from over the top of the instrument panel as the helicopter landed. The hands of veterans he loved reached into the helicopter to pull him out gently and get him into his wheelchair.

"Angel Fire became the perfect ending spot," Cheryl said. "Here you had so many incredible elementsthe father on the mountaintop, the first memorial to honor fallen Vietnam veterans, the kinds of things people do in the face of unimaginable grief, and then this full-circle return to Native America, with a Native American veteran blessing the helicopter. It was all there in one place. In a way, Shadow became a story in itself. It became a story of reconciliation, of coming to terms.''

The Fries are entering the film in film festivals, a course of action taken by all independent film producers. They've been notified that Shadow will receive an award at a Houston Film Festival. They are considering an offer from a cable TV company to air the film on Veterans Day. In Albuquerque last February, it had its first theater showing at the Madstone Theaters, a fundraising event for the Angel Fire Memorial. The production company offers the film to Vietnam veteran groups for reunions and meetings.

Major funding for the film came from Arrowhead Film & Video, DynCorp, and US Helicopter. Major in-kind support was provided by Southwest Airlines and Bell Helicopter. A complete list of contributors may be found at the Shadow Web page.

"It was very surprising to see how healing it was for the veterans to tell their stories," Cheryl Fries said. "I hope one of the lessons of In the Shadow of the Blade is that when you open up and reach out, you might find the peaceful link you need. We were just the conduit. It was a life-changing experience for us to be able to do this for people."