Cold War Veterans Need Your Help

The American Cold War Veterans, a 501(c)(3) Veterans Service Organization, are asking for
your help. Help for every veteran who served during the Cold War.

For the past ten years we have been petitioning Congress to authorize a Cold War Service Medal
to all those who served in the military from Sept. 1945 to Dec. 1991, America's longest war.
The battle to contain Communism was a long and arduous struggle, which ended with the demise
of the Soviet Union.

Once again we are in the midst of this ongoing struggle. Please contact both of your senators
ask them to become cosponsors to bill S.402 The Cold War Service Medal Act of 2011, and ask
that it be included in the NDAA 2012. Ask that the bill be called to the full Senate Floor and vote
for passage.

Remember, this year, 2011 is the twentieth anniversary of the end of the Cold War, this would be
the perfect time and reason to present this medal to our veterans. 

Then contact your Congressman/woman ask them to become cosponsor to bill H.R. 1968 The
Cold War Service Medal Act of 2011. Ask them to have it called to the full House Floor and
vote for passage.


Many lives were lost during the era that some call "peace time." There instances of our planes
being shot from the sky by Communist forces, our ship were attacked, and in the case of the
USS Pueblo captured. The Pueblo is still held by North Korea, and is still a commissioned US
Navy vessel. The USS Liberty was attacked and 34 crew members and 170 were injured. The USS
Scorpion vanished with the entire crew aboard.

From the Berlin Airlift, the Korean War, the Congo, Lebanon, the Panama Canal, Cuban Missile Crises, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Vietnam War and countless other "hot spots" our men and
women stood ready and waiting.

From manning missile silos in the heartland of America, aboard ships and submarines, troops on the ground, Strategic Air Command planes in the sky, stations in countries far from home. The Fulda
Gap, along the Iron Curtain, standing in alert, never knowing if this was a drill or the real thing.

Yet there has never been a medal or ribbon issued to the brave men and women. It is the only war
that has not had a medal or ribbon issued to commemorate the bravery and distinction with which
the men and women served their country.

Yes, there was the Cold War Certificate, the certificate made no mention of Military Service, and
anyone who worked for even one day as a government employee qualified for this piece of paper.
I was told by the command in charge of issuing the certificate that as of late 2009, after ten years
in existence, that only 2.5 million people had applied. That shows that most veterans consider
the certificate not worth the paper it was printed on. You can not pin a certificate on your chest.

A medal is the decent and honorable way for our country to say "Thank You, your service
counted and meant something."

Jerald Terwilliger
National Chairman
American Cold War Veterans
"We Remember"

---------------- "And so the greatest of American triumphs... became a peculiarly joyless victory. We had won the Cold War, but there would be no parades." -- Robert M. Gates, 1996