Newspaper Page Text
November 18, 2004
10A
Sister wins battle to honor Vietnam veteran brother
FREDERICKSBURG,
Va. (AP) —Ruth Coder
Fitzgerald’s effort to
memorialize her broth
er’s service in Vietnam
has reached a fitting end:
recognition at the Viet
nam Veterans Memorial
in Washington.
FitzgeraFd's brother,
John Keath Coder, died
in 1992 of nen-
Hodgkin’s lymphoma
ascribed to his exposure
to Agent Orange, a defo
liant sprayed to thin Lun
file canopies and help
ush out the enemy.
But after his death,
Coder, a helicopter pilot
during the war, was not
eligich to be listed on
the Vietnam Veterans
Veterans share personal stories of D-Day at State Museum Forum
“I'll never forget it until
the day I go to my grave,”
says Columbia resident and
veteran Alvin Lumpkin of
the time he spent at Nor
mandy. “I remember it so
vividly.”
As a rifleman in an
infantry company, Lump
kin served on the front
lines, a task he calls “the
furthest north you can go
without getting killed,”
which he says nearly hap
pened twice.
Affirmative: Fight did not end with Supreme Court ruling
Continued from page 8A
would back-peddle on
affirmative action.
That was a serious mis
caculation. Quietly, usu
ally adhering to the over
ly cautious advice of
their attorneys, major
universities are eliminat
ing or watering down
programs that have suc
cessfully targeted deserv-
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Memorial. Only those
who died in conflict are
memorialized on the
black granite wall.
So Fitzgerald, who
lives in Fredericksburg,
began organizing an
eff%rt to honor Vietnam
vets who died after the
conflict but from causes
related to it, including
cancer linked to Agent
Orange and from suicide
stemming from post
traumatic stress disorder.
Wednesday night,
Fitzgerald and hundreds
of others gathered on the
Mall in Washington to
dedicate the In Memory
plaque, which is near the
Three Servicemen statue
at the Vietnam Veterans
Lumpkin and other
South Carolina veterans of
World War II will share
their memories of D-Day
with South Carolina State
Museum visitors at a veter
ans forum Nov. 20 at 1:30
p-m. Audience members
also will have the chance to
ask questions of the panel.
Lumpkin, who recalls sit
ting on a ship on his way to
Normandy during D-Day
and arriving about a week
afterwards, plans to talk
ing and qualified blacks.
Many of these programs
have been either elimi
nated or opened up to
women and other racial
or ethnic groups, thus
reducing the number of
black students who
would be able to directly
benefit from - special
financial assistance
All of our lives we've
been taught the value of
AUGUSTA FOCUS
Memorial. .
“Although the reason
behind it is sad, it is a
very joyous occasion for
us,” said Fitzgerald, 60,
president of the Vietnam
War in Memory Memor
ial project.
“It was very exciting to
me because people from
the very beginning of
this were there,” she said
Thursday.
Jim Zumwalt said he
felt a special obligation
to be part of the effort
because of a ‘‘bitter
irony’- his father
ordered the use of Agent
Orange, and his brother
died of cancer linked to
exposure to the defo
liant. His father, Adm.
about a bartle that took
place in central France.
Chief Curator of History
Fritz Hamer expects many
topics to be covered, from
the preparation for the
invasion to its aftermath.
“Events that will be dis
cussed will include the
landing, the problems faced
with enemy fire and the
continuing campaign after
D-Day to push the Ger
mans out of the Normandy
peninsula,” he says. “There
a college education,
financial as well as per
sonal. Education is the
ticket to success and a
good job, we were told
repeatedly. And College
Board figures confirm
that lesson.
The average high
school graduate earns an
average of $30,800
annually. The college
graduate earns approxi
mately $19,000 more per
year — $49,900 — while
with those with a mas
ter’s degree earn
$59,500. Over a life
time, the person who has
only graduated from
high school will earn
$1.4 million. Over a life
time, a college graduate
will earn $2.5 million or
Bands: Top rated HBCU's compete
Continued from page 3A
(SIAC);
- Alabama A&M Uni
versity and Prairie View
A&M University, repre
senting the Southwestern
Athletic Conference
(SWAC); and
- Langston University
and Savannah State Uni
versity, both independ
ents.
HBCU commissioners,
presidents, band direc
tors and fans judged the
40 participating bands
on showmanship, musi
cianship and fan interac
tion during the Celebra
tion Tour, which took
place during the college
football season. School
officials were not permit
ted to vote for their own
school.
“We have a lot of peo
Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr.,
supported the plaque
prgj[:ct until his dfat}? in
2000.
“I really see it as a
peaceful place to go,”
Jim Zumwalt, who Fives
in Herndon, said of the
plaque site.
Another supporter has
been state Sen. Linda T.
Puller, D-Fairfax. Her
husband, Lewis B. Puller
Jr., killed himself in the
family’s home in 1994,
some 25 years after suf
fering massive wounds
when a land mine
exploded beneath him in
Vietnam.
Zumwalt credits
Fitzgerald with mobiliz
ing a “small army of sup
may also be a few that
served in the Marines that
will talk about fighting the
Japanese in the Pacific.”
No matter what topics are
discussed, Hamer hopes the
program will make an
impression on audience
members.
“I think that by attending
this event, the public will
learn from the veterans
who served what combat is
all about and the sacrifices
that they made,” Hamer
almost twice as much as
the high school grad.
A family’s income usu
ally determines its quali
ty of life. If we are to
advance as far as our
God-given talent takes
us, then access to higher
education can’t be the
exclusive purview of the
wealthy and well-con
nected.
As we continue to
engage in this epic battle
for the soul of America,
we must not be lulled
into believing that the
fight over affirmative
action ended with the
Supreme Court ruling
upholding the UM Law
School case. In fact, both
President George W.
Bush and Terry Pell,
ple of different genera
tions to entertain, so we
have to both reach back,
and stay current. That’s
the thing that motivates
creativity,” said Warren
Duncan, band director
of the 144-member
Tuskegee University
“Marching Crimson
Pipers” of Tuskegee,
Alabama. “Our (band’s)
appeal is very broad.
You have to bring what’s
current, as well as to
educate our new audi
ences about the music
from ‘back in the day.””
As sponsor of the
Honda Battle of the
Bands, American Honda
Motor Co., Inc. will
award $140,000 in
grants to the HBCU
bands. Each of the par
ticipating schools also
earned a SI,OOO grant
porters” to push for the
plaque.
Eventually, the Viet
nam Veterans Memorial
Fund contributed about
$130,000 toward the
design, crafting and
installation o? the
plaque.
T?ne In Memory group
contributed about
$75,000 toward the proj
ect, about $50,000 of
which was donated by
Harley-Davidson Motor
Corp.
No one knows how
many Vietnam veterans
have died from causes
linked to the conflict.
Some say the number of
post-war dead could
match or exceed the
says. “I hope that this will
help younger generations
learn what they did and not
forget it. Also, I hope that
by listening to these veter
ans, they will understand
why war is so horrible and
that no one should have go
into it unless all other
options have been exhaust
ed.”
Before the forum, the
Fort Jackson Concert Band
will play World War 11-era
and patriotic music from
president of the conser
vative Center for Indi
vidual Rights, the group
that brought both suits
against the University of
Michigan, favor what
they call race-neutral
programs. But many
studies, including one
conducted by the U.S.
Commission on Civil
Rights, show that race
neutral programs are less
effective than affirmative
action.
We must be mindful
that while the United
States Supreme Court
declared that it’s lawful to
operate race- and gender
conscious affirmative
action programs, its rul
ing did not require uni
versities or employers to
for their performances
during the Celebration
Tour.
The Invitational Show
case is acknowledged as
the “Super Bowl” for
marching bands, and as
one of the hottest tickets
in town. General admis
sion to the event is $lO
and tickets can be pur
chased at Ticketmaster
or the Georgia Dome
box-office.
“In keeping with tradi
tion, alumni and fan
support of this one-of-a
kind event has been phe
nomenal,” said Barbara
Ponce, manager of
Emerging Markets
National Advertising for
Honda. We're proud to
celebrate not just the
academic excellence and
rich cultural heritage of
these institutions, but to
number of names etched
on the wall, which now
honors more than
58,200 fallen soldiers.
Fitzgerald said that as
wounded troops return
from Iraq and
Afghanistan, the plaque
is a reminder of the lin
gering costs of war.
“I think what hap
pened in Vietnam has
made people more aware
of the lasting effects on
those servicemen who
survive,” she said.
“There was a lot of
denial back then. A lot
of people were told it
was all in their heads.
Now we know better, 1
hope.”
noon - 1 p.m. in the lobby.
The veterans forum is
free to the public. Admis
sion to the museum, except
to the exhibit Inside Africa,
is free during the Nov. 20-
21 Festival of Trees, a silent
auction fundraiser for Pal
metto Health Children’s
Hospital. Museum admis
sion is sponsored by AIG
Auto Insurance.
For more information on
the forum, contact Hamer
at (803) 898-4942.
operate affirmative action
programs. Thus, we still
have a fight on our hands
to make sure that our
institutions don’t destroy
what a conservative
Supreme Court narrowly
and reluctantly upheld.
George E. Curry is edi
tor-in-chief of the NNPA
News Service and Black-
PressUSA.com. His most
recent book is “The Best of
Emerge Magazine,” an
anthology published by
Ballantine Books. Currys
weekly radio commentary
is syndicated by Capitol
Radio News Service
(301/588-1993). He can
be reached through his
website, georgecurry.com.
help provide an opportu
nity for the kind of unity
and camaraderie that the
Honda Battle of the
Bands event promotes,”
she added.
Honda’s long-term
commitment to HBCUs
was established 15 years
ago when
it introduced the
Honda Campus All-Star
Challenge, a program
designed to showcase the
academic gifts and
prowess of HBCU stu
dents. For more
information about the
Honda Barttle of the
Bands, visit www.Hond
aßattleoftheßands.com.