Research - Rehabilitation - Re-Employment

Sgt. Shaft 08/06/200

Dear Sgt. Shaft:
I thought you might be interested in a project we got involved in over seven years ago. We were trying to come up with a way to help fellow veterans gain visibility in their communities on more than just a few special holidays.

We decided to make Veteran Recognition Window Stickers. We call them VetSignias. Newspapers and magazines have been running brief articles about the stickers and we've sent them to thousands of veterans in every state. Of course, many veterans have not yet had an opportunity to read about them.

We're not a business, just a loosely knit group of retired WWII and Korea veterans with the time, know-how, and commitment to make a wide variety of the attractive, inexpensive, long-lasting stickers. We now make 33 different stickers for WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, Overseas Expeditionary Campaigns, Peacetime, and the services: Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine. This is something a commercial enterprise probably couldn't do.

The stickers can be viewed at http://www.wat3.com/vetsignia. The sticker request form at the site tells how to get them. We don't have the wherewithal to put up a web site. A nearby company, World Anthem Technologies, Inc., did this as a service to veterans.

Sarge, if you have the chance, please pass the word about these distinctive badges that offer proud veterans "every day" recognition.

Bob Kline
WWII/U.S. Marines
For the VetSignia Group

Dear Bob:
The Sarge supports recognition of our citizens' service and sacrifice and laud you for your efforts to make available veterans recognition window stickers. On a more elaborate scale of recognition, I recently received a phone call from good friend U.S. Senator Max Cleland (Democrat-Georgia) in which he hailed the passage of S.311, a bill to authorize construction of a monument to honor disabled military veterans. The memorial will be the first national monument dedicated to disabled veterans who are still living. The House of Representatives passed companion legislation to this bill in May. Cleland, a severely wounded Vietnam disabled veteran, told me, "This is a project very close to my heart. It is not only appropriate but necessary to recognize the special sacrifices that disabled veterans have made to this country. It has been said, 'Poor is the nation which has no heroes. Poorer still is the nation which has them, but forgets.' The creation of this memorial will ensure that we, as a nation, do not forget those who have been forever changed in service to our country."

Shaft Shot
A large caliber shot to Maryland Delegate Shane Pendergrass (Democrat, legislative district 13A) and her morose band of constituent agitators. The left-wing Pendergrass and her small group of fomenters are trying to savage the naming of a post office after Vietnam war hero Alfred Rascon. As you may recall in my column of March 20, 2000, I wrote, "Over the past few years I have gotten to know Alfred Rascon, his lovely wife Carol, and their wonderful little ones, Amanda and Alan -- and what a special family they are.

"I have asked Mr. Rascon's congressman, Roscoe G. Bartlett (Republican, Maryland), and Constance A. Morella, Maryland Republican, (the representative of war hero Everett Alvarez), to introduce legislation to name post office facilities in their respective congressional districts after Al and Everett.

"At a time when our children and grandchildren need legitimate heroes, it is only fitting that the U.S. Postal Service recognize Medal of Honor recipient Alfred Rascon and Everett Alvarez, a successful businessman and former government executive, who was the first American aviator shot down over Vietnam and held for 8 1/2 years until general release of prisoners in February 1973.

In a recent statement, Representative Bartlett said: "I introduced H.R. 4430 on May 11, 2000, to designate the Post Office at Savage, Maryland, as the Alfred Rascon Post Office at Savage. Alfred Rascon is a local resident of Howard County and the U.S. Post Office located at Savage is the location closest to where he resides. To give you background, Mr. Rascon recently received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his extremely meritorious service in Vietnam. With less than 150 Medal of Honor recipients still alive, I am honored that Alfred Rascon is in the district that I represent. He also is continuing to serve his country as Inspector General of the Selective Service. He is a true American hero in every sense of the term, and his service to our country is more deserving than the attention it has received. I would also like to note that he did not seek a post office to be redesignated after him; this was my decision because I believe strongly that our children need to be educated and our adults reminded of those who have paid such a large price for our freedom."

When asked by a reporter why he chose to serve in Vietnam when he had not yet become a U.S. citizen, Alfred Rascon replied, "Although born in Mexico, in my heart I've always been an American."

The citation awarding the Medal of Honor to Alfred Rascon concludes: "Specialist Four Rascon's extraordinary valor in the face of deadly enemy fire, his heroism in rescuing the wounded, and his gallantry by repeatedly risking his own life for his fellow soldiers are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army."

Are the motives of Pendergrass and her savage crew racial, political, or anti-veteran? As the old saying goes, "If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck ... ", but simply, Alfred Rascon deserves better.

Send letters to Sgt. Shaft, c/o John Fales, P.O. Box 65900, Washington, D.C. 20035-5900; fax to 301-622-3330; call 202-462-4430 or email sgtshaft@bavf.org.

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