VVMF

THOUSANDS OF VETERANS, FAMILIES TO COMMEMORATE MEMORIAL DAY AT THE WALL; SIX NAMES TO BE ADDED
Retired Brig. Gen. David Grange & Senator Hagel to Speak; Statler Brother Jimmy Fortune to Sing ‘More Than a Name’; Nancy Sinatra To Perform at 12:15 p.m.; Webcast Live: www.TVWorldwide.com

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 19, 2003 --- Nearly 10,000 veterans and their families will participate in the Annual Memorial Day Observance, co-hosted by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and the National Park Service, at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Monday, May 26, 2003 at 1 p.m., announced Jan C. Scruggs, Memorial Fund Founder and President.

The event is free and open to the public. It also will be webcast live and archived on the Memorial Fund's website at www.vvmf.org and
www.TVWorldwide.com. It also will be available to media outlets from 12-2:30 p.m. via satellite at SBS 6 Transponder 04, Band: Ku, Orbital Slot: 74 Degrees, Downlink Frequency: 11798 (Vertical), Bandwidth: 36 MHz, Audio Sub Carrier: 6.2/6.8.

Retired Army Brig. Gen. David L. Grange, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation will serve as the keynote speaker. He served 30 years in the U.S. Army as a Ranger, Green Beret, Aviator, Infantryman and as a member of Delta Force with assignments and conflicts taking him to Vietnam, Korea, Grenada, Russia, Africa, former Warsaw Pact countries, Central and South America and the Middle East including the Gulf War. He also is a national security analyst for CNN and WGN-TV and a member of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Corporate Council.

Other featured speakers include Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE), a Vietnam combat veteran; Bonnie Carroll, Deputy White House Liaison, Department of Veterans Affairs; and Gentry Davis, Deputy Regional Director, National Capital Region, National Park Service. Vietnam Veterans of America President Thomas H. Corey will lead the Pledge of Allegiance. Memorial founder Jan Scruggs will be the Master of Ceremonies.

In addition, Jimmy Fortune, of the Statler Brothers, will sing "More Than a Name on The Wall" -- a tribute to the more than 58,000 who made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam. Nancy Sinatra, who entertained the U.S. troops in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968, will kick off the Memorial Day activities at The Wall with a performance starting at 12:15 p.m.

NEW NAMES ADDED TO THE VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL

At the 1 p.m. Memorial Day Observance, the names of six service members killed in the Vietnam War will be "officially" added to The Wall, increasing the total number of killed or missing in action to 58,235. The new name inscriptions become official when 24-year-old Brian Joyce (Watertown, Massachusetts) reads aloud his father's name, Army SPC Kevin J. Joyce along with the five other additions during the ceremony. Family members representing each of the new name additions will be in attendance.

The newest additions to The Wall are:

Air Force SSGT Donald Scott Carson (San Francisco, California)
Date of Birth: November 3, 1931; Incident Date: April 12, 1963
Date of Death: April 15, 1963; Wall Location: 8 East, Line 38
Army MSGT Frank Luther Huddleston (Clarksville, Tennessee)
Date of Birth: February 19, 1934; Incident Date: May 17, 1966
Date of Death: August 15, 2002; Wall Location: 16 East, Line 109
Army SPC Kevin John Joyce (Framingham, Massachusetts)
Date of Birth: January 21, 1947; Incident Date: July 15, 1968
Date of Death: February 9, 1996; Wall Location: 52 West, Line 34
Army SFC Dwaine Usry McGriff (Cullman, Alabama)
Date of Birth: December 19, 1935; Incident Date: September 7, 1970
Date of Death: January 7, 1999; Wall Location: 7 West, Line 51
Army SP4 James Mark Rogers (Waynesville, North Carolina)
Date of Birth: January 25, 1948; Incident Date: December 14, 1968
Date of Death: November 14, 1990; Wall Location: 36 West, Line 43
Army PFC William Joseph Scannell (Forest Park, Illinois)
Date of Birth: February 13, 1948; Incident Date: August 28, 1968
Date of Death: September 12, 1970; Wall Location: 44 West, Line 20

The Department of Defense makes all decisions about persons who fit the established criteria to be inscribed on the Memorial. The Memorial Fund hires expert stone workers from Denver, Colorado-based Great Panes Glassworks, Inc. to add names to the black granite panels. Each year, the Memorial Fund brings in Great Panes Glassworks to Washington, D.C. to perform the process of adding names to the black granite panels and changing the status designations of existing names from missing in action to killed in action.

This year, the status symbols of 27 service members listed on the Memorial will be changed from missing in action to killed in action. Preceding each name on the Memorial is a symbol designating status. The diamond symbol denotes that the service member's death was confirmed; the cross symbol denotes the person remains missing in action. When a service member's remains are returned or accounted for, the diamond symbol is superimposed over the cross.

MEMORIAL DAY OBSERVANCE WEBCAST LIVE ON THE INTERNET

The Memorial Fund again will team with TVWorldwide.com to make its ceremony available to the veterans community via the Internet. The Memorial Day Observance will be broadcast live and archived on www.TVWorldwide.com and the Memorial Fund's website at www.vvmf.org. The ceremony also will be available via satellite to media outlets. The Memorial Day webcast and satellite transmission are made possible through the generous support of Base Technologies, Inc., GSI Internet, Inc. and www.USVets.tv. This event marks the third time that the Memorial Fund and TVWorldwide.com have joined forces over the past year. TVWorldwide.com webcast the Memorial Fund's activities commemorating The Wall's 20th Anniversary last November and the Memorial Fund's Fifth Annual In Memory Day this past April.

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, it 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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