For Immediate Release
June 18, 2004

Contact: Judy Keyserling
(202) 393-0090

Father's Day Rose Remembrance

1,200 ROSES TO BE PLACED AT VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL
TO HONOR VIETNAM & IRAQ WAR CASUALTIES
U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona to Speak
Sons and Daughters To Participate in Remembrance Ceremony
Sunday, June 20 at 8 AM

WHO: The more than 58,000 casualties of the Vietnam War and casualties of America’s most recent conflict will be remembered at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial this Father’s Day with 1,200 red, yellow and white roses.  Beginning at 6:30 AM, sons and daughters of Vietnam veterans, Boy Scouts and volunteers will gather on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool steps to affix messages of honor and tribute to the roses: red roses signifying soldiers killed in Vietnam; yellow denoting soldiers still missing-in-action; and white for casualties of the Iraq War. 

Speakers

  • U.S. Surgeon General Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona, a combat-decorated Vietnam veteran
  • Layna McConkey Peltier, daughter of Army Captain Wayne Allen McConkey whose name is inscribed on Panel 7W, Row 66 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.  A native of Shenandoah, Iowa, Captain McConkey was killed in Quang Ngai Province on September 15, 1970. 
  • Jan C. Scruggs, founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, will serve as Master of Ceremonies.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, family members, friends and volunteers will read some of the thousands of personal messages sent to the Memorial Fund from across the United States, and place the roses at the base of the West Wall.  (The East Wall is closed due to lighting construction …a press conference is set for Wednesday, June 23 at 10 AM, details to follow early next week.)

WHAT: Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s Annual Father’s Day Rose Remembrance 

WHEN: Sunday, June 20…Ceremony at 8:00 AM / Affixing Messages Begins at 6:30 AM

WHERE: Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Steps

BACKGROUND: Established in 1979, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is the non-profit organization authorized by Congress to build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.  Today, through a series of outreach programs, the organization works to preserve the legacy of The Wall, to promote healing and to educate about the impact of the Vietnam War.

 

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