Volume 1
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Number 4
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Winter 2016
Inspiration Rising
COMMITMENT •
President’s Message
Bob Wilburn, President & CEO
During his two tours of duty in Vietnam, Major
General Patrick H. Brady, USA (Ret.) flew more
than 2,000 combat missions and evacuated more
than 5,000 wounded. This service record includes
the 51 seriously wounded men he evacuated, using
three different helicopters, on October 9, 1969.
That was the action that earned him the Medal of
Honor.
In this issue, Maj. Gen. Brady explains why the
National Medal of Honor Museum is so important
to the 76 living Medal of Honor recipients, and
how it can teach visitors, especially the nation’s
youth, that “physical courage can win a battle, but
moral courage can change the world.”
As you consider your year-end philanthropic goals,
we know you have many options from which to
choose. We hope you will consider including the
Medal of Honor Museum Foundation among your
choices. Your gifts are making it possible for us
to build this spectacular new museum that has
the potential to inspire us all to place service
above self.
The innovative exhibits and programs planned for
the new museum and education center will educate
and enlighten millions about the ideals of the Medal
and the values exhibited by its recipients, encouraging us to consider how we might have a positive
impact on the world in which we live.
Thanks to your philanthropy, we have the opportunity to touch lives across the nation and throughout
the world. A generous donor is matching every gift
made by December 31. For example, your gift of
$1,000 will result in a $2,000 gift to the museum.
Each gift, no matter the size, makes a difference.
Please consider making a tax-deductible year-end
gift to the Medal of Honor Museum Foundation.
We thank you for your support and extend our
best wishes to you and your family for a joyous
Holiday Season and a healthy and prosperous
New Year.
Bob Wilburn
SACRIFICE • CITIZENSHIP • PATRIOTISM • COUR AGE • INTEGRIT Y
A Monument to Our Medal of Honor Heroes
By Maj. Gen. Patrick Brady, Medal of Honor Recipient
Note: In the article that follows, Medal of
Honor recipient and Major General Patrick
H. Brady, USA (Ret.) describes the impact
recipients’ stories have on those who hear
them, and why recipients feel so strongly
about the need for a museum to preserve
these stories. His article appeared recently
on the WND.com website. Maj. Gen. Brady
also chairs the National Medal of Honor
Museum Steering Committee, composed
of eight Medal of Honor recipients who
review museum exhibits and programs to
ensure they are consistent with the mission and goals of the Congressional Medal
of Honor Society.
A smart guy once said, “All heroes must at last become bores.” As a member
of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, I have known many heroes.
Not many of them are bores.
In fact, most of them are very active in their communities on issues involving
veterans and our youth. But as a veterans’ society, we were not as organized
as, say, the American Legion in our outreach to our youth and veterans. Our
conventions were pretty much one big party. I must say, when you party with the
likes of Pappy Boyington, Commando Kelly, Scooter Burke and Chief Childers,
all world-class partiers, some of us left our conventions with a hangover.
Then one year we went to Philadelphia, where we marched at midnight with
the mayor through a ghetto full of drug dealers. The next day, we visited a high
school where we actually had to go through a metal detector. Some of us began
to wonder if we ought to leave behind something more than a hangover, but
we had no resources.
Over the years, society members formed the Medal of Honor Foundation,
probably the most powerful foundation in the world in terms of accomplished,
well-heeled, patriotic individuals all dedicated to our legacy. They were determined to care for the aging, ailing recipients and their families. And to pass on to
future generations the legacy of the Medal – courage, sacrifice and patriotism.
The foundation’s flagship program was the Character Development Program,
online and free. Although warriors were central, war was de-emphasized. The
key was to teach young people they could be heroes, and they don’t have to
go to war to do it. To emphasize this point, the recipients started the Citizen
Honors program, which annually honors civilian heroes who are examples
of the kind of citizens the CDP seeks to inspire. We developed lesson plans,
programs of instruction and videos telling the stories of more than 100 recipients
— continued on page 2
National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation
Medal of Honor Recipient encourages Americans to pay tribute to
freedom’s champions
— continued from page 1
who have taken the CDP to hundreds of schools, teachers and
thousands of students in every state in the union and some
foreign countries.
The recipients are especially effective in inner-city schools, where
the students’ retorts to many lecturers was, “You haven’t been
were we have.” Well, the recipients have been where they have,
and it has an impact on students who see before them an armless, eyeless or legless individual touting the blessings of hard
work and sacrifice.
The program also focuses on teaching the importance of courage
and sacrifice and especially patriotism. No democratic society
will survive if it doesn’t grow patriots, young people who prove
they love their country by supporting and defending it. I can
think of no better example of patriotism than Webster Anderson.
I went into an all-black high school in Chicago where I found
a glass case dedicated to Webster, a Medal of Honor recipient
from Vietnam. Although they honored Webster, they didn’t know
his story, so I told them.
Early one morning in Vietnam, his unit was attacked by communist forces. In the initial attack, they pretty much took off
both of his legs – yet he continued to fight. Later, he caught a
grenade, and it blew off an arm as he tried to throw it clear of
his men.
Still, he fought on. I flew in and picked up what was left of Webster
after he had inspired his men to defeat the communists. Miraculously, the medics saved his life, but his efforts to save his men
cost him both legs and an arm, and earned him the Medal of
Honor.
The museum will be a sanctuary for the
stories, legacy and contributions of the
recipients.
Webster and I became close. He thought I saved his life, but
it was really the physicians who did. Some years later, we were
speaking at a school in Oklahoma. One of the youngsters asked
Webster if he would do what he did again, knowing what it
would cost him – two legs and an arm. Webster’s answer moves
me to this day. He said, “Kid, I only have one arm left, but my
country can have it any time they want.”
I am sure those young people will forever be inspired by the
words of that great black soldier propped up before them who
was as much plastic as he was flesh. Webster’s sacrifice was
an investment in their future, and I think some of them realized
it for the first time. Webster defined patriotism for those young
people, and teaching patriotism should be a top priority of our
educational system.
Other recipients have similar stories concerning patriotism
as well as courage and sacrifice. Those young people know
are not all born equal in terms of ability or opportunity. Recipients
teach them, in the only way that counts, they are all born equal
– and that is courage. They can have all the courage they want;
you can’t use it up, and it is the key to success in life. And the key
to courage is faith, very nearly a universal value of all recipients.
The sacrifices of Medal of Honor recipients have one thing in
common: love – love of their fellow troops, their families and
their country. True sacrifice is simply love in action, a form of
sacrifice that will do nothing for one in a material sense; it will only
increase their capacity for more sacrifice. The capacity for sacrifice is the essence of leadership, responsibility, indeed for
happiness itself.
So the message of the Character Development Program to today’s
youth – from those who sacrificed their youth that liberty might
grow old, over many years and countless battlefields, over the
bodies of millions of dead – is that the values of courage founded
in faith and sacrifice, based in love, will lead to an incredible
capacity for service to others, to patriotism and eventually to
the security of America. Peace most certainly is the ultimate
victory of all warriors. The CDP secures the values of the Medal
of Honor forever. But we needed a vault for those values.
Some other great Americans answered the call and founded
the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation to build a
National Medal of Honor Museum. It will be a sanctuary for the
stories, legacy and contributions of the recipients. It will be unique
among all the museums in our country.
We have museums focused on wars, like the World War II Museum;
on services, like the Air Force Museum; on branches of service,
like the Infantry Museum; on functions, like the Air and Space
Museum; and even on race. The National Medal of Honor Museum
will encompass all wars from the Civil War on, all services, all
branches, all functions and all races. Medal of Honor recipients
were in every war, in every service, in every branch, in every
function, and in every race. This museum will be unique among
all the museums of the world.
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This museum will be the signature of all
Medal of Honor recipients and the hope
they represent for our future.
The museum concept is simple: Inspire and educate. It will focus
on the psyche of a young student entering an arena of superheroes wearing dog tags instead of capes. That student will be
thrilled with visuals of the selfless grandeur of individual physical
courage and sacrifice, the foundation of his freedoms. That student
will learn that physical courage can win a battle, but moral courage
can change the world.
That student will learn that Medal of Honor recipients not only
defended our country, they helped design, develop and enrich
it. He will learn that it was a Medal of Honor recipient who first
crossed the Atlantic, who first flew in clouds using a gyroscope
to open up the skies for all, who founded a great airline, who was
the first president of the American Football League, who were
great athletes, one a president, members of Congress, mayors,
journalists, physicians to presidents, famous actors, governors,
generals who fought and won our wars and built our railroads.
It was a Medal of Honor recipient who wrote “Taps,” founded
the CIA. It was a Medal of Honor recipient who founded Colorado
Springs.
That student will see on Mount Rushmore not only great Americans
but a Medal of Honor recipient, Theodore Roosevelt, who spoke
the motto of the museum: “The lives of true heroism are those in
which there are no great deeds to look back upon. It is little things
well done in life that go to make a successful and truly good life.
That student will walk out of the museum inspired with the conviction that he, too, can be a hero. He’ll know these men used
the same values of courage and sacrifice to excel in combat and
also in life. The student will know those same values can be
used to excel in his own life. He’ll learn that fear is an emotion, but
courage is a decision.
Museum Foundation supporters Mike Aday (above, standing
by lectern) and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith, Inc.,
recently hosted a dinner in Birmingham, AL, to introduce
more than 80 guests to the museum and education center.
Medal of Honor recipient Maj. Gen. James Livingston, USMC
(Ret.), spoke to the group about museum plans and progress.
He also signed copies (below) of Noble Warrior, personal
accounts of his battlefield experiences. Signed copies of the
book are available from the Patriots Point Foundation, with
100% of the proceeds going to the Medal of Honor Museum
Foundation Chapel Fund. For more information, or to order
copies, go to www.tinyurl.com/orderNobleWarrior. And if you
would like to host an event to help raise interest in and funds
for the Museum Foundation, please contact Tim Nelson, vice
president of development, at 843-388-3914.
Photos: R.D. Moore Photography
Medal of Honor recipients believe service to our youth is the
highest form of patriotism. This museum will be a symbol of
patriotism.
G.K. Chesterton said art is the signature of man. This museum
will be the signature of all Medal of Honor recipients and the hope
they represent for our future. We encourage our readers to join
us in building this monument. ★
Visitors will learn that physical courage can
win a battle, but moral courage can change
the world.
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Volume I
•
Number 4 • Winter 2016
An Invitation to Descendants of Medal of Honor Recipients
If you have a relative who received the Medal of Honor, the
National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation would like to
hear from you.
Since the announcement of plans for the new museum several
years ago, the Foundation has heard from children to greatgreat-great grandchildren, as well as nieces, nephews, and
great-grand nieces and nephews. We thank many of you for
your donations in support of the project. Some of you have
asked about donating objects, artifacts and archival material
for our collection. Many of you simply want to know about our
plans for the museum, including the grand opening.
To help us stay in touch, we are developing a contact list for
members of the Medal of Honor family. We welcome contact
information for anyone who has a family member who has
received the Medal of Honor, from the Civil War to the Wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This contact list will enable us to keep family members informed
as we develop our plans for the grand opening – currently
scheduled for late 2018 – and for special exhibits and programs
once the museum opens.
Names and contact information will not be shared outside of
the Museum Foundation and the Congressional Medal of
Honor Society. To register, please visit the Medal of Honor
Family page on our website at www.mohmuseum.org/family.
For those of you without access to the internet, please call
us at 1-877-717-5242.
Thank you in advance for sharing this information with other
Medal of Honor family members you believe may be interested.
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Volume I
•
Number 4 • Winter 2016
Museum Plans Include the Inspiring Stories of America’s
Medal of Honor Chaplains
Although chaplains have been seeing to America’s military since
before there was an America, they are an often-overlooked
group of service members. They provide for the spiritual needs
of the military and its families, encourage morale, minister to
the wounded and perform funerals for the dead.
The Army Chaplain Corps dates to July 1775, when the Continental Congress, acting on an urgent request from General
George Washington, authorized one chaplain for each regiment
of the Continental Army, with pay equaling that of a captain.
The Navy Chaplain Corps – which today also sees to the spiritual
needs of the Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine
– came into being a few months later in November 1775. The
Air Force Chaplain Corps was established in March 1948.
While classified as noncombatants and prohibited from carrying
arms, chaplains serving during wartime also have demonstrated tremendous courage. Each conflict includes heroic
stories of chaplains administering last rites to fallen soldiers
as the battle rages around them, or dashing into the open to
rescue the wounded. More than 400 have died.
Nine chaplains and one chaplain assistant have received the
Medal of Honor for their selfless service and sacrifice during
wartime: four during the Civil War, one during the Boxer Rebellion, one during World War II, one during the Korean War and
three during the Vietnam War.
The museum and education center is designed as a place
for inspiration as well as contemplation. Outdoor plaza areas
provide spaces for rest and reflection. And the visitors’ experience concludes with the opportunity for quiet contemplation
in the ecumenical Medal of Honor Chapel. Accessible via
the Chaplain’s Walk, a two-level pedestrian bridge from the
museum, the chapel sits at the edge of the site, overlooking
Charleston Harbor.
The Patriots Point Foundation, an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) charitable organization, is working with the Museum Foundation
to raise funds for the Medal of Honor Chapel. We are most
grateful for their support and for yours. These funds are not
only helping ensure the preservation of the inspiring stories of
these men, but also helping visitors understand and appreciate
the vital role of Military Chaplains in providing for the spiritual
needs of our armed forces.
The Medal of Honor Chapel:
A Place for Contemplation
Two – US Army Chaplain Emil J. Kapaun and US Army Chaplain
Vincent R. Capodanno – also have been named Servants of
God in the Roman Catholic Church, which is the Vatican’s first
step toward canonization.
The stories of these heroic men of faith are included among
those of nearly 3,500 Medal of Honor recipients that will be
preserved in the new National Medal of Honor Museum in
Mount Pleasant, S.C. They are irreplaceable treasures that
have the potential to inspire, inform and strengthen us all.
To preserve and present the extraordinary stories
of individuals who reached the highest levels of
recognition, “above and beyond the call of duty,” in
service to the nation.
To inspire current and future generations
about the ideals of courage, integrity, patriotism,
leadership and sacrifice; to help them understand
the meaning and price of freedom; and to encourage
them to embrace their responsibilities as citizens
in a democracy.
The National Medal of Honor Museum visitors’ experience concludes at the ecumenical Medal of Honor Chapel, which overlooks Charleston Harbor at the tip of the museum site. The
Chaplain’s Walk, a two-level pedestrian bridge, will honor the
service and sacrifice of the chaplains who have received the
Medal of Honor as it leads visitors from the museum to the
chapel. The 140-seat chapel will host public and private events.
It also will serve as a place for reflection and spiritual connection, as visitors contemplate the service and sacrifice of the
recipients, and the manner in which each of us lives our own lives.
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Charleston, SC
Permit No. 137
PO Box 309
Mount Pleasant, SC 29465
Making Decisions About Year-End
Charitable Giving? Please Consider
The Medal of Honor Museum
Stay In Touch
mohmuseum.org
All donations received by year’s end will be matched, dollar-for-dollar.
Tax deductible donations for the new museum and education center,
payable to the Medal of Honor Museum Foundation, may be sent to:
The National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation
P.O. Box 309
Mount Pleasant, SC 29465-0309
Online donations are welcome at:
www.mohmuseum.org
Join us on Facebook
www.facebook.com/mohmuseum/
About Us
The National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit
educational institution organized to design, fund, build and maintain the new
museum and education center in Mount Pleasant, SC.
Follow us on Twitter
@MohMuseum
Contact us via e-mail at
[email protected] or call us at
843.388.3914
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