Whilwind week

This has been a whilwind week. It all started Monday with an emaik telling me that the Portland Airshow was teaming with the Dignity Vietnam Wall. While this sounds harmless, it marks the first time that an admission would be required to view the wall. For those who don't know the Dignity Vietnam Wall is one of several replicas of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This particular version is owned by Service Corp. International, a group of Funeral Homes and cemetaries. I have been involved in numerous displays of the Dignity wall in the midwest. Never since its inception in 1990 has there been a charge to see the wall. In fact the website for the Dignity wall states the wall is always free and open 24 hours at every venue. Well That wasn't the case in Portland. Because the was was to be displayed inside the gates of the Airshow, anyone who wanted to see the wall would have to pay $15 to get into the airshow. Airshow officials thought that allowing current and former military into the show free would be enough to make up for charging others.
After spending some time Monday getting all the facts I could on the airshow/Dignity team, I went to work Tuesday morning. By Tuesday afternoon I had sent 1000 emails to veterans, Contacted the site manager for Dignity by phone, Sent emails to media in Portland, and sent emails to the corporate big wigs for SCI in Huston. The responce from the veteran community was great.
Wednesday afternoon, I was checking the Dignity site for the schedule of other cities the wall was going to be at. To my amazement, the portland appearance was deleted. Not sure what this meant, I went to the Portland Airshow site. All mention of the Dignity wall had been taken off that site also. This was a ggod sign but I was not sure if the wall was being taken off the airshow or if they had decided not to advertise it any more. So I was going to continue my campaign. My plans included notifying veteran organizations in Portland to boycott the airshow and not use Dignity facilities in their final resting plans.
Then came Thursday. I had Appointments at the VA in the morning . When I got home, there it was. An email from the site manager of Dignity. The wall will not be a part of the Portland Airshow. It was official. Dignity had listened to the mass communications of veterans from all over the country. WOW in three days we had taken Corporate America head on and we had won. This shows to me we, as veterans, have a power that we don't use. When joined together for a cause, we can get things accomplished! Now let's work to change the VA.