Project News
May 1, 2010
A trailer for the documentary Vietnam: Service, Sacrifice and Courage. This project was produced by Florida Veterans Programs and Projects, Inc and Flagler College TV Workshop class.
A special twenty page booklet has been created to accompany and expand on the documentary. It will be distributed to schools libraries and museums. It will also be available for no charge at the premier of the documentary in November at Flagler Auditorium (see date and time below). It is also available as a free download by clicking the link below. (Right click or control-click then select Save to Desktop.)
Download the Booklet
Press Release -
Little did Jeff Givens, the winner of a $500.00 scholarship, and 15 fellow students realize what they were getting into for a 1 credit class when they enrolled in the T.V. Workshop class of Flagler College Communications Department.
The project, a documentary about the Vietnam War, took all semester and required an extraordinary amount of hours outside of class to perform the varied tasks involved in making a documentary. They had no idea that they were going to learn a lot of history, up-close and personal history, of what it means to go to war.
When presented with the task of writing a 500 word essay on what they learned during the making of the documentary, the collective groan could be heard 3 rooms away. But the incentive of $500.00 in scholarship money for the best essay seemed to lighten the load considerably.
Earl Kidwell of Florida Veterans Programs and Projects, Inc. (FVPPI) was charged with the task of reading the thirteen entries and deciding the winner. "It was not an easy task. I read each essay about 8 times. I put aside the 3 or 4 I thought were the best and then read through all of the rest again and again to make sure I didn't miss anything the previous times. Jeff's essay was the one which clearly embodied the essence of the subject." He came to understand that war, by its very nature, brings about an entirely different meaning to the words Service, Sacrifice, and Courage than when used in an everyday context.
The documentary, entitled "Vietnam: Service Sacrifice and Courage" is the third installment of veteran history projects undertaken by FVPPI. The documentary attempts to correct myths about the war and concentrate on the men and women who, in spite of their exposure to the worst that war has to offer, made a successful transition to civilian life. It embodies the stories of 5 local Vietnam veterans.
"This documentary would not have been possible without a sizable donation from Allied Veterans of the World, Inc. & Affiliates,"" said Michael Rothfeld, president of FVPPI. "They gave money not only for the documentary, but also for the scholarship. They are true Angels.
Jerry Bass, National Senior Vice-Commander, Allied Veterans of the World, Inc. responded for the organization saying "It is not only our pleasure, but our duty to our veterans to make sure these stories of their service, sacrifice, and courage are shared."
The premier of the documentary is scheduled to be held on November 7, 2010 at 3pm in the Flagler College Auditorium, 14 Granada St., St Augustine. The premier is free and open to the public.
Along with the premier will be a "Veterans Variety Show"" performed by the Coquina Players to "Welcome Home" our Vietnam Veterans.
left to right: Earl Kidwell, FVPPI; Jeff Givens; and Jerry Bass, Allied Veterans of the World
I thought I knew all I needed to know about Vietnam. It was unpopular; we lost a lot of troops and it occurred during my parent's generation. My education was not wrong: just incomplete. All of the personal stories that truly flesh out what war is really like had fallen through the cracks. I had never talked to a Vietnam veteran. In this essay I want to talk about how they embodied service, sacrifice and courage.
Service. It was towards the end of the shooting schedule and we were all getting tired. I was asked to come in and help shoot the medals, supplies and pictures that Paul Heagy had brought back. I was not overly excited but I had to do it for the class. When Paul arrived he was in great spirits and was happy to help. He not only told us about the things he had brought, but let us touch them and arrange them the way we wanted. Later, while I was shooting I noticed he had sat down and was going through all of his slides with a classmate, telling the story behind each photo. It was then that the character of this man struck me. He was the one volunteering to give up his time to help us out. Was I learning about the Vietnamese money and medical packs he brought in? Yes. But I was learning so much more about what it meant to serve not only my country, but also others. I was also learning how to be a better man. Service does not equate to weakness. It is the opposite; it is a strong man that can put his ego aside to help achieve the greater good. It is the weak man who must refuse to serve for fear his weakness will be revealed.
Sacrifice. 58,261 is a big number. As with numbers of dead, such as WW 2, Korea and Iraq, they are just big numbers. It is hard to connect or understand what it means that 58,261 of our men died. Harry Manford, Tom Crawford and Paul Heagy helped me to understand. Seeing these men recount memories that are older than me, and hearing in their voices the deep sadness over the loss of close friends and the brutality of war was sobering. The story that Harry Manford told about the American soldier having to hold his intestines in after being hit by a grenade made me understand that what our troops do for this country is not to be taken for granted. The most memorable, and saddest story was that of James Toothacker. Leaving his young bride back home only to die after thirty days in Vietnam made me see that the effects of war do not stay on the battlefield. Unlike our men, they always come back home.
Courage. For me this has always been a tough trait to pick out in others. Courage is still hard to find in most but through this project, I can see it clearly in our veterans. To go through what they did and emerge stronger on the other side is nothing short of a miracle. It spoke volumes to me about the training that they endured and the character that it built in them. It also showed what men my age are capable of doing. Most of these men were my age or younger during their tours of duty. Listening to Tom Waskovich talk about running Special Operations as a nineteen year old instilled confidence that I too can make an impact at my age. That age is secondary to motivation. Courage does not come easily. All of these men at a young age decided to make a choice to serve our country. For that reason, I am thankful for their service, their sacrifice and their courage.
January 11, 2010
We produced two Fund Raisers, a Penny Social and a Benefit Show, both at Coquina Crossing
We donated a large outdoor flag to St. Joseph Academy
We donated an award winning print of two WW II soldiers to Coquina Crossing for permanent display
We produced a Korean Veterans Celebration at the main Jacksonville Public Library (seating 400)
We produced a Korean Veterans Variety Show at the Flagler College auditorium (seating 800)
We donated a shadow box Battle Flag to the St. Johns County Veterans Service Office
We produced a Korean War documentary featuring five local Korean War heroes
Our documentary was broadcast on local PBS (WJCT-TV) three times in November
We donated copies of the Korean documentary to all St. Johns County libraries
We presented Korean War veterans & documentary at the Amelia Island Museum of History
We presented Korean War veterans & documentary at Edgewater High School auditorium, Orlando
We presented Korean War veterans & documentary at Orange County Regional History Center, Museum
We sponsored a veterans essay contest at Flagler College, winner given $1,000.00
We sponsored a veterans essay at contest Liberty Pines Academy, three students given total prizes of $600.00
For 2010 -
We have started our next project, a Vietnam documentary, working with the Flagler College Communications Dept. & featuring the heroic stories of local veterans.
We have contacted Flagler College and requested a November 7, 2010 date to present the premier of the Vietnam documentary as well as a Veterans Day Variety show.
We will be meeting with the President of the St Johns County School Board, then making a presentation to the Superintendent of Schools and the School Board to further using veterans as "living history."
November 15, 2009
Michael Rothfeld answers a student question at Orlando Edgewater High School during a presentation of Korea: Forgotten War Remembered Heroes. From the left are: Bill Napper, Earl Kidwell, Ben Meggitt, Rothfeld, and Jim Vanairsdale. The group also participated in a “Brown Bag Lunch & Learn Series” presentation at the Orange County Regional History Center.
The video, which Rothfeld’s group recently premiered at a large gathering on the campus of Flagler College, features five area veterans of the Korean War, who relate their thoughts and memories of their time while they were in the conflict, which ran from 1950 to 1953 on the Korean peninsula.
Today’s group included Bill Napper and Earl Kidwell, who were members of the selection process for the video and assisted in the interview process, Ben Meggitt, the former Chair of the St John’s County Veteran’s Council, USMC Lt. Col. (Ret) Jim Vanairsdale, who was featured in the video, and Michael Rothfeld, who was the producer of the film.
The group first stopped at Orlando’s Edgewater High School and presented the video, followed by a question and answer period to a group of about a hundred world history students. Natalie Stevens, the Social Studies Curriculum Specialist for the Orange County Public Schools, said that “we are so pleased that we are able to have this group come and tell us about their experiences.” She continued, “We very much appreciate the veterans taking the time to educate our students.”
Glenn Riccio, the Edgewater Social Studies Department Chair, said, “We are so glad our students are getting this first hand history.”
Paul Wenglowsky, the Curator of Education for the Orange County Regional History Center, said that today’s presentation was made available by a Culture Builds Florida grant, which is provided by the state of Florida. The purpose of the program is to extend an outreach program to high schools across the state, and through the “Brown Bag Lunch and Learn Series,” offer learning opportunities to the 50 thousand or so people who work in the downtown Orlando area.
“We are so pleased and honored to be able to share Michael Rothfeld’s work with the students and citizens of Orlando,” Wenglowsky said. “Our November themes have always had a veteran’s focus, and we are pleased to honor the sacrifices to their country and for us that veterans have made.”
Korea: Forgotten War Remembered Heroes is the second in a series of videos Rothfeld’s group has produced. The group is currently in the process of working on a third in the series, tentatively titled “Sacrifice and Courage” a feature that will discuss the Viet Nam war.
Citizens interested in learning more about Florida Veterans Programs and Projects, Inc. can visit the organization website: AnyVeteran.org. Contact FVPPI/AnyVeteran.org to purchase the video.
November 11, 2009
On Sunday, November 8, 2009, an epic celebration of Veterans Day was staged at Flagler Auditorium. The event was hosted by the St. Johns County Veterans Council, and produced by FVPPI with assistance of the residents of the community of Coquina Crossing. See more photos here.
FVPPI sponsored an essay contest among the students of Flagler College with the prize of a $1000 scholarship. The winner was Mathew Sills. He is seen in the photo below and his essay follows.
Dulce et Decorum Est: The Importance of Veterans, a Personal Reflection
By Matthew Sills
“Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori” – it is sweet and right to die for your country. These well known words ironically conclude Wilfred Owen’s famous World War I poem, Dulce et Decorum Est, which tells of the horrors of war. The words, Owen’s poem says, are a lie. Such a point of departure for one’s thought leads to a profound meditation on the importance veterans, not as bronze memorials, clean and kept gleaming in the sunlight, but as the human beings who, though afraid and dirty, nevertheless braved the horrors of the battlefield for the sake of future generations. In light of this, veterans are important for two reasons. First and foremost is their sacrifice for the liberty of the future, but second, and perhaps more importantly, is what can be learned about war and human nature from their experiences.
The work of veterans is always a sacrifice. They are called to leave their family, friends, and often other jobs in order to serve the country, and whether an individual served in peace time or during a war, the significance of a veteran’s work cannot begin to be understood without first acknowledging that they all begin with a mentality of sacrifice. It is the same mentality that both augments and tempers the spirit of American innovation. It is an understanding that what is good is meant to be shared with all, that unless others are aided by or can draw from what we do, our actions are all essentially incomplete. Therefore, when a veteran serves, he or she makes a commitment to go beyond the individual and affirms not just the community but the future. Sometimes this commitment means fighting to protect that community, but the work of servicemen is always an affirmation foremost.
In the unfortunate extreme of war, the ideas of service and the affirmation of goodness, life, and community can become twisted, as humans expose their shadows to one another. Yet in seeming contradiction, arguably the most poignant stories of love for one’s comrades and sometimes mercy have been recorded in the midst of war. Such phenomena point to a resilient core within the human spirit that nevertheless manages to shine whether in the muck of the Ardennes or in the dust of Afghanistan. Combat veterans especially have something important to contribute in this respect, as those who have seen the horror involved when men set out to kill one another. The voices of veterans, forged in the experience of war, can become the future voices of peace. Wilfred Owen served with the British in World War I, leaving many poems recounting the horror of war. Similarly, American writer Tim O’Brien writes about Vietnam and that war’s vicious dehumanization of all involved. Sadly, this aspect of the veteran’s voice is the least heard in the mainstream.
To me, therefore, the importance of veterans cannot be overstated. Indeed, it is not uncommon for veterans to become community leaders, showing their continuing affirmation of those around them and the understanding that goodness can only reach fullness when placed in a community that can share it. Moreover, veterans have never existed in a vacuum; they are important as models of the spirit of sacrifice. Their spirit is one finely nuanced, not a platitudinous self-sacrificing, but rather a spirit which both affirms the “I” and simultaneously acknowledges that the “I” is not the most important. In turn, when a serviceman is called to give up his or her life the sacrifice means something because of the loss of a great “I.”
Finally, just as we incur a great debt to veterans for their labors and the examples they have set, veterans continue to have a moral obligation to the world, and the world needs veterans who will fulfill such an obligation. Veterans are the best tools to educate new generations, not only about the good things – service and seeing the good as to be shared – but about dark underside of humanity. Without the lessons of veterans history is simply doomed to repeat itself with new conflicts fought by new generations. The words of veterans can be more effective stopping a bullet, in seeing that it is never fired, than all the technological advances to come out of wars themselves. In a time like ours where the potential for conflict is understood by all, there is a desperate need for what veterans have to offer. If indeed, veterans represent an affirmation of the good, then their examples and words are important.
October 4, 2009
Sunday 11/08 at 11:00 PM - Channel 7.4 (Comcast 212)
Wednesday 11/11 at 10:30 PM - Channel 7.1 (Comcast 8 and 440)
Sunday 11/15 at 7:30 PM - Channel 7.1 (Comcast 8 and 440)
July 31, 2009
Sunday November 8, 2009, 3:00 PM at Flagler College Auditorium, 14 Granada St.
Music and comedy from the Korean War Era. Featuring "Korea: Forgotten War, Remembered Heroes" the story of five local Korean War heroes. FREE ADMISSION - no tickets needed. Entertainment by Tim Rippey, plus the Coquina Players & Dancers. Hosted by the St. Johns County Veterans Council, Ray Quinn, Chairman. For additional information, call
June 25, 2009
Download the PDF of this document
See also the Making of Korea: Forgotten War, Remembered Heroes
See photos of the premier ofKorea: Forgotten War, Remembered Heroes
Vietnam: Service, Sacrifice & Courage
A trailer for the documentary Vietnam: Service, Sacrifice and Courage. This project was produced by Florida Veterans Programs and Projects, Inc and Flagler College TV Workshop class.
A special twenty page booklet has been created to accompany and expand on the documentary. It will be distributed to schools libraries and museums. It will also be available for no charge at the premier of the documentary in November at Flagler Auditorium (see date and time below). It is also available as a free download by clicking the link below. (Right click or control-click then select Save to Desktop.)
Download the Booklet
Press Release -
Flagler student wins essay contest
"Was I learning about the Vietnamese money and medical packs he brought in? Yes. But I was learning so much more about what it meant to serve not only my country, but also others. I was also learning how to be a better man. Service does not equate to weakness. It is the opposite; it is a strong man that can put his ego aside to help achieve the greater good" wrote Jeff Givens in his award winning essay.Little did Jeff Givens, the winner of a $500.00 scholarship, and 15 fellow students realize what they were getting into for a 1 credit class when they enrolled in the T.V. Workshop class of Flagler College Communications Department.
The project, a documentary about the Vietnam War, took all semester and required an extraordinary amount of hours outside of class to perform the varied tasks involved in making a documentary. They had no idea that they were going to learn a lot of history, up-close and personal history, of what it means to go to war.
When presented with the task of writing a 500 word essay on what they learned during the making of the documentary, the collective groan could be heard 3 rooms away. But the incentive of $500.00 in scholarship money for the best essay seemed to lighten the load considerably.
Earl Kidwell of Florida Veterans Programs and Projects, Inc. (FVPPI) was charged with the task of reading the thirteen entries and deciding the winner. "It was not an easy task. I read each essay about 8 times. I put aside the 3 or 4 I thought were the best and then read through all of the rest again and again to make sure I didn't miss anything the previous times. Jeff's essay was the one which clearly embodied the essence of the subject." He came to understand that war, by its very nature, brings about an entirely different meaning to the words Service, Sacrifice, and Courage than when used in an everyday context.
The documentary, entitled "Vietnam: Service Sacrifice and Courage" is the third installment of veteran history projects undertaken by FVPPI. The documentary attempts to correct myths about the war and concentrate on the men and women who, in spite of their exposure to the worst that war has to offer, made a successful transition to civilian life. It embodies the stories of 5 local Vietnam veterans.
"This documentary would not have been possible without a sizable donation from Allied Veterans of the World, Inc. & Affiliates,"" said Michael Rothfeld, president of FVPPI. "They gave money not only for the documentary, but also for the scholarship. They are true Angels.
Jerry Bass, National Senior Vice-Commander, Allied Veterans of the World, Inc. responded for the organization saying "It is not only our pleasure, but our duty to our veterans to make sure these stories of their service, sacrifice, and courage are shared."
The premier of the documentary is scheduled to be held on November 7, 2010 at 3pm in the Flagler College Auditorium, 14 Granada St., St Augustine. The premier is free and open to the public.
Along with the premier will be a "Veterans Variety Show"" performed by the Coquina Players to "Welcome Home" our Vietnam Veterans.
left to right: Earl Kidwell, FVPPI; Jeff Givens; and Jerry Bass, Allied Veterans of the World
Service, Sacrifice and Courage
by Jeff Givens, Flagler CollegeI thought I knew all I needed to know about Vietnam. It was unpopular; we lost a lot of troops and it occurred during my parent's generation. My education was not wrong: just incomplete. All of the personal stories that truly flesh out what war is really like had fallen through the cracks. I had never talked to a Vietnam veteran. In this essay I want to talk about how they embodied service, sacrifice and courage.
Service. It was towards the end of the shooting schedule and we were all getting tired. I was asked to come in and help shoot the medals, supplies and pictures that Paul Heagy had brought back. I was not overly excited but I had to do it for the class. When Paul arrived he was in great spirits and was happy to help. He not only told us about the things he had brought, but let us touch them and arrange them the way we wanted. Later, while I was shooting I noticed he had sat down and was going through all of his slides with a classmate, telling the story behind each photo. It was then that the character of this man struck me. He was the one volunteering to give up his time to help us out. Was I learning about the Vietnamese money and medical packs he brought in? Yes. But I was learning so much more about what it meant to serve not only my country, but also others. I was also learning how to be a better man. Service does not equate to weakness. It is the opposite; it is a strong man that can put his ego aside to help achieve the greater good. It is the weak man who must refuse to serve for fear his weakness will be revealed.
Sacrifice. 58,261 is a big number. As with numbers of dead, such as WW 2, Korea and Iraq, they are just big numbers. It is hard to connect or understand what it means that 58,261 of our men died. Harry Manford, Tom Crawford and Paul Heagy helped me to understand. Seeing these men recount memories that are older than me, and hearing in their voices the deep sadness over the loss of close friends and the brutality of war was sobering. The story that Harry Manford told about the American soldier having to hold his intestines in after being hit by a grenade made me understand that what our troops do for this country is not to be taken for granted. The most memorable, and saddest story was that of James Toothacker. Leaving his young bride back home only to die after thirty days in Vietnam made me see that the effects of war do not stay on the battlefield. Unlike our men, they always come back home.
Courage. For me this has always been a tough trait to pick out in others. Courage is still hard to find in most but through this project, I can see it clearly in our veterans. To go through what they did and emerge stronger on the other side is nothing short of a miracle. It spoke volumes to me about the training that they endured and the character that it built in them. It also showed what men my age are capable of doing. Most of these men were my age or younger during their tours of duty. Listening to Tom Waskovich talk about running Special Operations as a nineteen year old instilled confidence that I too can make an impact at my age. That age is secondary to motivation. Courage does not come easily. All of these men at a young age decided to make a choice to serve our country. For that reason, I am thankful for their service, their sacrifice and their courage.
January 11, 2010
2009 FVPPI Summary of Activities and Accomplishments
We have sent and are continuing to send packages to Iraq and Afghanistan, monthlyWe produced two Fund Raisers, a Penny Social and a Benefit Show, both at Coquina Crossing
We donated a large outdoor flag to St. Joseph Academy
We donated an award winning print of two WW II soldiers to Coquina Crossing for permanent display
We produced a Korean Veterans Celebration at the main Jacksonville Public Library (seating 400)
We produced a Korean Veterans Variety Show at the Flagler College auditorium (seating 800)
We donated a shadow box Battle Flag to the St. Johns County Veterans Service Office
We produced a Korean War documentary featuring five local Korean War heroes
Our documentary was broadcast on local PBS (WJCT-TV) three times in November
We donated copies of the Korean documentary to all St. Johns County libraries
We presented Korean War veterans & documentary at the Amelia Island Museum of History
We presented Korean War veterans & documentary at Edgewater High School auditorium, Orlando
We presented Korean War veterans & documentary at Orange County Regional History Center, Museum
We sponsored a veterans essay contest at Flagler College, winner given $1,000.00
We sponsored a veterans essay at contest Liberty Pines Academy, three students given total prizes of $600.00
For 2010 -
We have started our next project, a Vietnam documentary, working with the Flagler College Communications Dept. & featuring the heroic stories of local veterans.
We have contacted Flagler College and requested a November 7, 2010 date to present the premier of the Vietnam documentary as well as a Veterans Day Variety show.
We will be meeting with the President of the St Johns County School Board, then making a presentation to the Superintendent of Schools and the School Board to further using veterans as "living history."
November 15, 2009
Michael Rothfeld answers a student question at Orlando Edgewater High School during a presentation of Korea: Forgotten War Remembered Heroes. From the left are: Bill Napper, Earl Kidwell, Ben Meggitt, Rothfeld, and Jim Vanairsdale. The group also participated in a “Brown Bag Lunch & Learn Series” presentation at the Orange County Regional History Center.
Coquina Crossing Veterans Group Visits Orange County Regional History Center, Edgewater High School in Orlando
A contingent of veterans from Coquina Crossing made their way to Orlando Thursday to make a presentation of Michael Rothfeld’s recent video collaboration, Korea: Forgotten War Remembered Heroes to a “Brown Bag Lunch and Learn Series” at the Orange County Regional History Center and to a large group of world history students at Orlando’s Edgewater High School.The video, which Rothfeld’s group recently premiered at a large gathering on the campus of Flagler College, features five area veterans of the Korean War, who relate their thoughts and memories of their time while they were in the conflict, which ran from 1950 to 1953 on the Korean peninsula.
Today’s group included Bill Napper and Earl Kidwell, who were members of the selection process for the video and assisted in the interview process, Ben Meggitt, the former Chair of the St John’s County Veteran’s Council, USMC Lt. Col. (Ret) Jim Vanairsdale, who was featured in the video, and Michael Rothfeld, who was the producer of the film.
The group first stopped at Orlando’s Edgewater High School and presented the video, followed by a question and answer period to a group of about a hundred world history students. Natalie Stevens, the Social Studies Curriculum Specialist for the Orange County Public Schools, said that “we are so pleased that we are able to have this group come and tell us about their experiences.” She continued, “We very much appreciate the veterans taking the time to educate our students.”
Glenn Riccio, the Edgewater Social Studies Department Chair, said, “We are so glad our students are getting this first hand history.”
Paul Wenglowsky, the Curator of Education for the Orange County Regional History Center, said that today’s presentation was made available by a Culture Builds Florida grant, which is provided by the state of Florida. The purpose of the program is to extend an outreach program to high schools across the state, and through the “Brown Bag Lunch and Learn Series,” offer learning opportunities to the 50 thousand or so people who work in the downtown Orlando area.
“We are so pleased and honored to be able to share Michael Rothfeld’s work with the students and citizens of Orlando,” Wenglowsky said. “Our November themes have always had a veteran’s focus, and we are pleased to honor the sacrifices to their country and for us that veterans have made.”
Korea: Forgotten War Remembered Heroes is the second in a series of videos Rothfeld’s group has produced. The group is currently in the process of working on a third in the series, tentatively titled “Sacrifice and Courage” a feature that will discuss the Viet Nam war.
Citizens interested in learning more about Florida Veterans Programs and Projects, Inc. can visit the organization website: AnyVeteran.org. Contact FVPPI/AnyVeteran.org to purchase the video.
November 11, 2009
Veterans Day Celebration at Flagler Auditorium, November 8, 2009
On Sunday, November 8, 2009, an epic celebration of Veterans Day was staged at Flagler Auditorium. The event was hosted by the St. Johns County Veterans Council, and produced by FVPPI with assistance of the residents of the community of Coquina Crossing. See more photos here.
FVPPI sponsored an essay contest among the students of Flagler College with the prize of a $1000 scholarship. The winner was Mathew Sills. He is seen in the photo below and his essay follows.
Dulce et Decorum Est: The Importance of Veterans, a Personal Reflection
By Matthew Sills
“Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori” – it is sweet and right to die for your country. These well known words ironically conclude Wilfred Owen’s famous World War I poem, Dulce et Decorum Est, which tells of the horrors of war. The words, Owen’s poem says, are a lie. Such a point of departure for one’s thought leads to a profound meditation on the importance veterans, not as bronze memorials, clean and kept gleaming in the sunlight, but as the human beings who, though afraid and dirty, nevertheless braved the horrors of the battlefield for the sake of future generations. In light of this, veterans are important for two reasons. First and foremost is their sacrifice for the liberty of the future, but second, and perhaps more importantly, is what can be learned about war and human nature from their experiences.
The work of veterans is always a sacrifice. They are called to leave their family, friends, and often other jobs in order to serve the country, and whether an individual served in peace time or during a war, the significance of a veteran’s work cannot begin to be understood without first acknowledging that they all begin with a mentality of sacrifice. It is the same mentality that both augments and tempers the spirit of American innovation. It is an understanding that what is good is meant to be shared with all, that unless others are aided by or can draw from what we do, our actions are all essentially incomplete. Therefore, when a veteran serves, he or she makes a commitment to go beyond the individual and affirms not just the community but the future. Sometimes this commitment means fighting to protect that community, but the work of servicemen is always an affirmation foremost.
In the unfortunate extreme of war, the ideas of service and the affirmation of goodness, life, and community can become twisted, as humans expose their shadows to one another. Yet in seeming contradiction, arguably the most poignant stories of love for one’s comrades and sometimes mercy have been recorded in the midst of war. Such phenomena point to a resilient core within the human spirit that nevertheless manages to shine whether in the muck of the Ardennes or in the dust of Afghanistan. Combat veterans especially have something important to contribute in this respect, as those who have seen the horror involved when men set out to kill one another. The voices of veterans, forged in the experience of war, can become the future voices of peace. Wilfred Owen served with the British in World War I, leaving many poems recounting the horror of war. Similarly, American writer Tim O’Brien writes about Vietnam and that war’s vicious dehumanization of all involved. Sadly, this aspect of the veteran’s voice is the least heard in the mainstream.
To me, therefore, the importance of veterans cannot be overstated. Indeed, it is not uncommon for veterans to become community leaders, showing their continuing affirmation of those around them and the understanding that goodness can only reach fullness when placed in a community that can share it. Moreover, veterans have never existed in a vacuum; they are important as models of the spirit of sacrifice. Their spirit is one finely nuanced, not a platitudinous self-sacrificing, but rather a spirit which both affirms the “I” and simultaneously acknowledges that the “I” is not the most important. In turn, when a serviceman is called to give up his or her life the sacrifice means something because of the loss of a great “I.”
Finally, just as we incur a great debt to veterans for their labors and the examples they have set, veterans continue to have a moral obligation to the world, and the world needs veterans who will fulfill such an obligation. Veterans are the best tools to educate new generations, not only about the good things – service and seeing the good as to be shared – but about dark underside of humanity. Without the lessons of veterans history is simply doomed to repeat itself with new conflicts fought by new generations. The words of veterans can be more effective stopping a bullet, in seeing that it is never fired, than all the technological advances to come out of wars themselves. In a time like ours where the potential for conflict is understood by all, there is a desperate need for what veterans have to offer. If indeed, veterans represent an affirmation of the good, then their examples and words are important.
October 4, 2009
Mark your calendars -
The FVPPI documentary, Korea: Forgotten War, Remembered Heroes will be shown on WJCT:Sunday 11/08 at 11:00 PM - Channel 7.4 (Comcast 212)
Wednesday 11/11 at 10:30 PM - Channel 7.1 (Comcast 8 and 440)
Sunday 11/15 at 7:30 PM - Channel 7.1 (Comcast 8 and 440)
July 31, 2009
Sunday November 8, 2009, 3:00 PM at Flagler College Auditorium, 14 Granada St.
Music and comedy from the Korean War Era. Featuring "Korea: Forgotten War, Remembered Heroes" the story of five local Korean War heroes. FREE ADMISSION - no tickets needed. Entertainment by Tim Rippey, plus the Coquina Players & Dancers. Hosted by the St. Johns County Veterans Council, Ray Quinn, Chairman. For additional information, call
June 25, 2009
Download the PDF of this document
See also the Making of Korea: Forgotten War, Remembered Heroes
See photos of the premier ofKorea: Forgotten War, Remembered Heroes