Posted on 06/26/2004 4:22:37 AM PDT by BluegrassScholar
KNOXVILLE - Since 1995, Bob Parker has sent nearly 2,000 honorary medallions to survivors of soldiers, police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty.
Parker and his nonprofit organization Fallen Friend has 17 more medallions to give, including one for Pat Tillman, the football player who quit the NFL to become an Army Ranger and was killed in April in Afghanistan.
But Tillman's family and others won't receive their medallions.
The Army has stopped helping Parker and Fallen Friend distribute the medals because there is a reference to a Bible verse on the back, according to two letters Parker received from the Army.
The Marines, Navy and Air Force have continued to provide Parker with names, but those branches ask the families first if they want to receive the medallions.
"The denial is based upon the religious content on the medallion. There are some next of kin that may find the inscription offensive to their personal religious beliefs," wrote Lt. Col. Kevin Logan, chief of the casualty operations division.
The 70-year-old Parker, an Army veteran who lives near the Kentucky border in Clairfield, hasn't been able to change the decision and plans to keep fighting.
He believes the families should have a choice to accept the medals or refuse them.
The gold-colored medallion is about the size of an Olympic medal and is inscribed with words "A Fallen Friend," the soldier's name and John 15:13: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
One side of the medallion has a picture of a bell with hands cupped around it with the words "Liberty Rings for All Nations" and "United We Stand, Divided We Fall" around it.
The medal design has been the same since Fallen Friend sent out its first medal to a family of an Army soldier killed in the Bosnian peace-keeping mission. Parker has never received any complaints about the medallions before or had any family return one.
"These people die for a choice. That's what really broke me up," Parker said. "The families that would like to have the medallions don't have the choice to say yes or no. They are denying them the very thing that these people are dying for - freedom of choice."
The military branches provide Parker the names of the soldiers, and he sends the medals to the military to be distributed to the survivors.
In April, the Army returned 16 medals Parker had already engraved. Parker received a letter dated April 27 from the Army, notifying him that each group that wishes to send gifts or letters to the next of kin has to fill out a questionnaire to be approved.
Parker returned the questionnaire, which prompted the Army to write another letter dated May 4 denying Parker's request.
The Army reviewed its practice this spring of helping people send items to survivors and found some of the items were inappropriate.
Huh, if it cam from the top, why are the Navy, Air Force, and Marines allowing them.
Seems to me it probably is a Lt. Colonel or somebody in a mid-level rank.
Either a PC Clinton holdover or someone who doesn't want to get the ire of the ACLU.
Don't you hate it when your conspiracy theories go awry.
"Huh, if it cam from the top, why are the Navy, Air Force, and Marines allowing them.
Seems to me it probably is a Lt. Colonel or somebody in a mid-level rank.
Either a PC Clinton holdover or someone who doesn't want to get the ire of the ACLU.
Don't you hate it when your conspiracy theories go awry."
It doesn't mean it came from the top. It probably came from his boss, which could be a full bird colonel, or a brigadier general. Probably came from that. All it takes is one person in that chain of command to say no. He has to follow orders. If it was him, then all it takes is one person to say do it. And he has to follow orders.
The U.S. Army is the largest branch of the military, meaning there are more PC people in there than in any other branch. This means that it takes time to weed out the undesirables. Give this administration another four years to make our military service all it can be.
In reminder, it has taken almost four years to transform our fine U.S. Military from it's former Clinton years of politically correct, micromanaged, low moraled days. So, there are always undesirables to weed out. In time, this sort of thing probably won't happen again. Just so you know, in 1989 when I went in, the U.S. Army was 800,000 strong. That's a lot of personnel. Now, it's a little over half that. And we're still the biggest branch in the U.S. Military. Give it time. It'll change. Clinton did a lot of damage in eight years.
Thanks, kcvl. You're being 'All you can be.' :)
Becki
There arent any crosses in Arlington National Cemetery.
John 15:13: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." I had put this on a remembrance to go into a public school for a fallen soldier. It was rejected for the same religious reason. Amazing isn't it.
"Blasphemy, I say, BLASPHEMY!!!! How dare Parker try to disseminate religious teachings under the guise of a medal intended to honor those who have fallen in the service of their community and their country!!?? Cutting him off from the addresses of the surviving family members is too good for him; we should ship him off to Iraq to be beheaded!!!"
Whoopsie!!! At the end of this paragraph, there was supposed to be a "</sarcasm>".
Please don't hurt me, it was meant as sarcasm - I'M NOT SERIOUS, ok?
Don't ya just hate it when you make foolish assumptions?
So what's this...chopped liver? Look at every gravestone to find a cross or Star of David. http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/images/ANC_surroundings/PAGES/image28.html
>>Give it time. It'll change. Clinton did a lot of damage in eight years.<<
You need to stop taking those dream pills! Clinton was following his predecessors instructions.
"It is the sacred principles enshrined in the UN Charter to which we will henceforth pledge our allegiance."
George Herbert Walker Bush
Just as President Bush is making his Dads wishes come true by funding $600 million to build a UN standing army.
"My vision of a 'new world order' foresees a United Nations with a revitalized peacekeeping function. "
George Herbert Walker Bush
This is something that needs to brought to the public and let them raise heck.
Yeah, the God-less nations don't dominate the world, they don't produce much and their people are miserable. They're always needing someone else to fight their wars or else they just get assimilated. I don't like it.
Guess I'm going to be e-mailing congress today.
Look, don't get pi$$ed just because I taught you something. I showed you a stand alone cross, and there are many of them there, and then I referred you to the crosses and Stars of David on each of the headstones. You stated there were no crosses at Arlington, and you were incorrect. Accept your mistake and get on with it.
Your link went to a very old picture of RFK It isn't there anymore. Get over it yourself.
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/images/ANC_surroundings/images/image61_jpg.jpg
I mean you no ill will. You are very possibly correct. I worked at Arlington National before RFK and I know there were none then.
I argued your point with a fellow freeper, based on a poor memory and he corrected me with tons of pictures. I remembered seeing rows and rows of crosses that turned out to be head stones.
I was a member of the USAF honor guard from 1963 to 1967 and attended literally thousands of funerals there including JFKs. Three or four a day at times.
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