Cold War Service Medal: Read The Articles and Take Action

I see almost daily that people are reading this blog, searching for information on the Cold War Service
Medal. We have been trying for more than ten years to achieve this medal. We even changed the
name from "Victory Medal"(which we would rather see) to "Service Medal" in thoughts of
making the idea more acceptable to some members of Congress. But, after all this time, and
many bills being written we are still short of the goal line. Will it ever come to fruition?
YOU can HELP.

Once you read the articles I ask that you take some action: Use the links on the right to POPVOX to
contact you elected officials asking them to become cosponsors to S.402 and H.R. 1968. These get
delivered to your officials at no cost to you.

You can also go to Congress.org at http://www.congress.org/news/communicating-with-congress/
Where you can send an email or letter to the President, Vice President and Senators and Representatives, which will be delivered. This is a free service also.

Ask President Obama to use an Executive Order to create the Cold War Service Medal. Remind him
that he at least twice said that such a medal was deserved.

You can also visit your Senators and Representatives websites and send them an email there which
will get read.

Phone your officials offices and make your feelings know, ask to speak to who ever is in charge
of veterans affairs or military and defense. You can also send a fax to the office.

Or you can go to signor.org http://signon.org/sign/authorize-and-create and sign a petition to
authorize the Cold War Service Medal Act.

I just ask that you act now, there is not much time left in this session of Congress, and the two bills
will die a slow and painful death, sitting in the Armed Services Committees and we will again
be without recognition.

The Wall Street Journal published and excellent article on Veterans Day about Cold War Veterans.
Several other articles were written such as the one on Breibart.com which called the President to task
Disgrace-Barack-Obama-Broke-Promise-to-Honor-Cold-War-Veterans and many others.

We do understand the current fiscal problems facing our nation, and we know that the Department
of Defense (DoD) has objected to the medal. The DoD cost of $440 million is completely out
of line, the Congressional Budget Office costed the medal at about $30 million over a six year
span; with the start up costs being in the $1 million range.

The cost could become a non-factor as many veterans would be willing to purchase their own medal
from a private vendor, we would suggest Foxfall Medals since their version was designed by
Nadine Russell, the Chief of Creative Heraldry at the Army's Institute of Heraldry.

Do no let the Cold War Veterans be forgotten any longer, we are a vanishing breed; and soon it
will be too late to recognize and honor those of waged "America's Longest War", even though
it was not an officially declared war. Many died defending our country in missions that even
today are still classified Top Secret.

Their stories will probably never be told, as we carry our secrets to our graves. Ignored, dismissed,
disregarded and forgotten, pushed into the dustbin of history.

It did happen, it was a war, as several presidents declared; and we won!



---- Jerald Terwilliger Former 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