KOREAN WAR VETERANS NATIONAL MUSEUM & LIBRARY

DATELINE: OCTOBER 8, 2009

The new Denis J. Healy Freedom Center in Springfield has been open now for over a month and has already had several thousand visitors. We had decided not to charge admission, just ask for donations. To date, those donations are averaging slightly over $2.00 per person. The gift shop is doing well and should really begin to be a big profit center once it gets online on our website. We hope that will happen soon. We continue to work at improving the Center to make it more interesting and informative. 

The Rantoul facility, which housed our Museum since 2004, has been shut down and all of the inventory is now at the Healy Center. The good news is that we are now ready to receive artifacts from Korean War veterans and/or their families. Charts, maps, photos, journals, diaries, and other items are welcomed. Please send all such items to 9 Old State Capitol Plaza, Springfield, IL, 62701. We have someone at the Center now who is highly skilled at cataloguing and archiving.

We are in intensive discussions with the South Korean government to obtain a sizeable contribution for the Museum and it is going very well. They are engaged, and seem very serious about getting involved. At the same time, with the help of a number of State and Federal legislators, we are strongly pursuing obtaining Stimulus funding. Our project is shovel ready and could create jobs immediately, it would benefit the local economy in both the short and long term, and it is a meaningful project that will preserve a part of American History, so we feel that we easily meet all the Stimulus program requirements.

To be able to reach out to the public at large as well for funding, we are in process of coming up with a restructuring of the Board to add influential American and Korean American members with the ability to acquire significant funds from both public and private sources. This requires changes to the Bylaws as well, and this measure to take such action was approved at the recent annual Board of Directors General Business Meeting on September 30, 2009.

We continue our efforts to obtain additional celebrity endorsers. The most recent addition of Clint Eastwood has been of great benefit and we wish to do more of the same.

We have contacted our construction firm who prepared the initial building plans for the permanent 55,000 square foot Museum, to modify the Museum design to convert it to an environmentally friendly facility. We hope to make it the first “green” Museum in the country. It may cost more to build but it will be better for the environment and actually less expensive to operate in the long term.

Lastly, the effort to produce a 2010 Museum Calendar has begun. Since 2010 will mark the beginning of a three year remembrance of the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War, we want this particular Calendar to be really special, and so we are working hard to make this Calendar the most memorable to date. We hope to have it available before year end, hopefully in the fourth quarter.

A lot of very dedicated people are working hard to make this dream come true. We intend to make it happen. Stay with us and be a part of something special.

Respectfully submitted,

Robert Mitchell
Treasurer, Board of Directors
Korean War National Museum

(October 9, 2009)

In recent months, we have moved forward on several fronts. On July 26, 2009, I was privileged to be the keynote speaker at the 2nd Annual Armistice Day Commemoration & Peace Vigil in Honor of America’s Forgotten Heroes.

It was truly an awesome experience to be at the base of the national reflecting pool facing the Abraham Lincoln Memorial, with the Washington Monument in the background, and with the Korean War National Museum to the left.

During this visit, Board members Walter Ade, Bob Desmond and I were able to meet with several Congressmen. You will note in the photo exhibit a picture of the three of us meeting with Congressman Sam Johnson of Texas, who not only served in the Korean War, but also in Vietnam, where he was a POW for almost seven years.

Recently we were privileged to have the U.S. Coast Guard National Drill Team perform at our Museum at the Denis J. Healy Freedom Center in Springfield, Illinois to a crowd of over 1,000.

Thanks to Board member Bob Fitts, we will be receiving his Korean era jeep, which is in mint condition, to be displayed in the Healy Freedom Center.

We have received considerable publicity on the opening of the Healy Freedom Center and this has generated contributions of valued artifacts. We are now posting a document detailing the frequently asked questions about the submission, receipt, etc. of artifacts.

We are grateful for the continuing support we are receiving throughout the country.

Larry Sassorossi
Executive Director
larrysasso@kwnm.org

Korean War Veteran, actor and director, Clint Eastwood has joined the effort to complete the Korean War National Museum.

I am thrilled that Mr. Eastwood has chosen to join Buzz Aldrin, James Garner and Ed McMahon in supporting our cause. Mr. Eastwood has not only signed on as an endorser of the Museum, he sent out a personal letter to all of our donors.

As a Veteran himself, Eastwood understands the importance of educating generations to come about the Korean War, what was accomplished and the personal sacrifice of those involved. He has stated: “I am very interested in preserving the memory of those who died in Korea as well as honoring the thousands who served.”

His recent movie, Gran Torino centers around a Korean War Veteran who tries to convey his experiences and the lessons that he learned during the war to a young man coming of age.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Korean War National Museum, I would like to thank Mr. Eastwood for his support. Together we can ensure the Korean War is no longer forgotten!

Sincerely,
Wes Stapleton
President