WW1 Centennial News: Episode #47 - Thanksgiving special from the Nov. 9, 2017 Ceremonial Groundbreaking of the National WWI Memorial at Pershing Park in Washington DC.

Highlights

Web donations: ww1cc.org/donate

Text-to-give donations: Text “wwi” to 91999

Learn more: ww1cc.org/memorial

• Being Thankful | @ 00:40
• Mr. Terry Hamby, Chair of the WWI Centennial Commission | @ 04:00
• The Honorable Ted Poe, Congressman | @ 10:10
• The Honorable Emanuel Cleaver, Congressman | @ 14:30
• General Mark A. Milley, 39th Chief of Staff of the Army | @ 18:00
• Bob Vogel, director of the National Capital Region (NCR), National Park Service | @ 22:15
• The Honorable David Shulkin, Secretary of Veterans Affairs | @ 27:05
• Keith Harman, Commander-in-Chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars | @ 30:10
• Denise H. Rohan, National Commander, American Legion | @ 32:20
• The Honorable Muriel Bowser, Mayor of Washington | @ 35:45
• The Honorable Doug Lamborn, Congressman | @ 38:20
• The Honorable Kevin Yoder, Congressman | @ 40:20----more----

Thanksgiving Special Fundraiser

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - The weekly podcast about WWI and the Centennial commemoration of the war that changed the world.

WW1 Centennial News is brought to you by the US World War One Centennial Commission and the Pritzker Military Museum and Library.

Welcome to our Thanksgiving week special show.

[MUSIC]

For this special week, where we traditionally celebrate with our families and give thanks for the bounty in our lives, we are bringing you a special episode of WWI Centennial News.

We are celebrating with our now gone family of Americans who, 100 years ago took up the challenge, the mission and the fight to help end one of the most horrific periods in human history.

We are going to take a moment to reflect and give thanks to their service and their sacrifice, whether they were soldiers, mothers, workers, men, women, children, even horses, mules and dogs - we are inviting you to join us in giving thanks to a nation committed to a cause.

… not for territorial gain, not to dominate other nations or to stop other nations from directly dominating us -- but rather for a cause embodied in an idea and an ideal of liberty and freedom. Ideas we must never take for granted because we have them only courtesy of the commitment and sacrifice of our forbears.

 

If this all sounds “schmaltzy” to you… just take a deep breath and wrap your head around this… people DIED for you to have this. Think of your own family and those you love and remember those who have lost their loved ones - for you.

On this Thanksgiving 100 years ago, literally millions of Americans both here and on foreign shores were united in preparing, training, building, transforming, fighting and even dying because our people by and large felt is was simply the right thing to do in the cause of liberty and freedom for the people of the world.

So let us all give thanks for what we have.

Meanwhile, we, the World War One Centennial Commission also want to give thanks to the many of YOU who have supported, sponsored and donated to our work and our mission of bringing this rather amazing moment of our history out of it’s dusty trunk in the attic of our past and into the awareness of our present.

During this week’s episode we are going to bring you highlights from the November 9th Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the National WWI memorial at Pershing Park in Washington DC.

It was a watershed moment in our ambitious effort in building a memorial to honor the men and women who served 100 years ago in the war that changed the world.

By law, no tax dollars can be used to build this memorial. It must be built with private funds and donations - in that regards, this truly IS America’s WWI memorial.

So during this time of giving thanks and celebrating what we have, we are asking you for you financial support with a tax deductible donation to built this WWI memorial. We need your help to do it. We can’t do it without you. And it’s easy - just go to ww1cc.org/donate - it’s a really simple URL to remember - the letters w w the number 1 - the letters c  c dot o  r  g/donate - ww1cc.org/donate… I a little while we’ll tell you how to donate by just sending us a text.

But right now, from the ceremonial groundbreaking - Here is the chair of the World War One Centennial Commision - Commissioner Terry Hamby….

[Mr. Terry Hamby, Chair of the WWI Centennial Commission]

You can help keep the faith with those who died - so they can rest in Flanders Field. We need your tax deductible donation to build their memorial… And of course we want to make that as easy as we can. So since many of you listen to our podcast on your smart devices, we have set it up so you can text a donation from your phone.

It’s really easy. Go to your texting app and text the letters w w i  to 91-999. Our text-to-give app is really easy, safe and you can donate any amount you choose. You can even make the donation in honor of your family or your ancestor!

 

From the ceremonial groundbreaking, here is the congressman Ted Poe of Texas with a little background about his and Congressman Cleaver’s journey in getting congress to pass the law that established the memorial.

 

[The Honorable Ted Poe, Congressman]

 

It’s really a pleasure to be able to report that the centennial commemoration of WWI and the establishment of a national WWI memorial in Washington DC have served as an precious and rare area of bi-partisanship in our national legislature… this is truly a sign of honor and respect that all Americans have for those who serve and who have served our nation.

And we’re appealing to you, whether your political leanings are Republican, or Democrat, Conservative or liberal to help build the memorial to commemorate those who answered the call 100 years ago. Give your thanks and honor those men and women of the past by sending a tax deductible gift - of any size - either by going to the website at ww1cc.org/donate or texting the letters wwi or ww1 to the phone address at 91-999. We’ll send you a receipt for your taxes and our sincere gratitude for your heart.

 

Next, here is Congressman Emanuel Cleaver with a little insight into the bi-partisan collaboration that surrounds this worthy project.

 

[The Honorable Emanuel Cleaver, Congressman]

 

Congressman Cleaver said it well. No gift is complete until we say thank you. We’re asking you - to say thank to our WWI veterans on this thanksgiving Holiday with a donation to their memorial - which completes their gift of sacrifice and service to us..

Please make a tax deductible donation - whatever you can - a dollar, 11 dollars and 11 cents for 11/11, 50, a hundred or a thousand.. Remember your own - with a gift specifically in the name of someone who has served our nation. Please go to to ww1cc.org/donate, or by texting wwi or ww1 to 91-999 now.

You know it’s really important to remember and to be clear - we are commemorating WW1 - we are NOT celebrating it. War is not something to celebrate… War is a terrible thing! and to give you some insight into that - perhaps from an unexpected source - is the 39th Chief of Staff of the Army -

 

[General Mark A. Milley, 39th Chief of Staff of the Army]

 

Giving thanks is about caring… participating in the ceremonial groundbreaking is a project partner who will be taking on that task. Here is Bob Vogel from the National Park Service - whose national memorial role may not be something you are familiar with!

 

[Bob Vogel, director of the National Capital Region (NCR), National Park Service]

 

We want to remind you that the law specifically prohibits government funds from paying for this memorial - so none of this is possible without YOUR help. We need your contribution to build this memorial. So if you are listening on your smartphone  - pause this podcast RIGHT NOW then go to your texting application, type 91-999 into the address field - type the letters w w i into the message field and press send - you’ll get a reply immediately that will allow you to make a contribution of any size to help build YOUR memorial to WWI in our nation’s capital! Then come back here and listen to the rest of the show - we’ve got some good stuff coming - and you’ll be feeling really good as you listen!

 

We are a nation committed to honoring those who served - Honoring our WWI veterans is LONG overdue. Our next three speakers live, breath, service and support veterans - starting with the administration’s new Secretary of Veterans Affairs - the honorable David Shulkin

 

[The Honorable David Shulkin, Secretary of Veterans Affairs]

 

Both the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars have stepped up on this project with significant contributions to the WW1 memorial.

 

We want to thank them and their memberships for supporting the project so generously.

 

Here are Keith Harman, Commander-in-Chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Denise H. Rohan, National Commander, American Legion

 

[Keith Harman, Commander-in-Chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars]

 

[Denise H. Rohan, National Commander, American Legion]

 

Again, thank you to both the VFW and American Legion national organizations for their substantial and very important financial support of the WWI memorial in Washington DC - a city that is currently run by the  honorable Mayor Muriel Bowser. As you’ll hear, she and the city are very supportive and looking forward to having this new and important commemorative feature as a part of the Nation’s capital.

 

[The Honorable Muriel Bowser, Mayor of Washington]

 

So we have been pretty direct with you today - We need your help and contributions to build the WWI memorial! And although congress did not allow for any tax dollars to help, here is congressman Doug Lamborn who is going to tell us about a WWI commemorative coin that congress authorized - AND - with a portion of the proceeds available to help pay for the memorial.

 

[The Honorable Doug Lamborn, Congressman]

 

And to close out our thanksgiving special fundraiser for the WWI memorial, we have Congressman Kevin Yoder - with some thank yous of his own!

 

[The Honorable Kevin Yoder, Congressman]

 

So happy Thanksgiving to you and your family - Thanks for the time you’ve taken here today to reflect, hear about and remember those who have served and those who have paid to make our American way of life possible.

Thank you for your generous contribution to our effort to commemorate and honor the men and women who gave us so much 100 years ago in the war that changed the world.

And one last time, here is how you can contribute to the memorial and learn more about it.. Using a web browser, go to ww1cc.org - just type the letters w w the number 1 and c c dot o r g… that is the commission’s home page. When you get there on the top left of the page is a panel about the memorial. You can click on Donate Today or Memorial Mesign to learn about the details of the design, the location, the designers and more - it’s a pretty interesting site..

Or - really easy and fast - you can text to donate - send the simple text message “wwi” to the number 91-999. You’ll get a message right back that links you up with a donation page on your smartphone.

Happy thanksgiving to all of you. Thank you for listening. Thank you for giving. Thank you for caring. We do this work for the doughboys and for you. It is our privilege!

World War One Centennial news will be back next week with our regular program. I’m Theo Mayer, the Commission’s chief technologist and your host.

[Music]

So long.