Senator Mike Jackson-Press Release:

"While I support any effort to honor our service people, I am particularly proud to support plans to build a world class Veterans museum in my Senate District", said Mike Jackson.  "Not only would a museum of this caliber enhance our community and the entire State of Texas, it would serve as an educational tool for our children and a source of pride and respect for our men and women who have so gallantly served our country."

Recently, at a town hall meeting held on February 1, 2007 at the San Jacinto Junior College on Scarsdale Blvd., Senator Mike Jackson, State Representative Robert Talton and Malcolm Browne, Chairman of The Veterans Museum, was presented a Japanese sword donated by the daughter and son of deceased Marine Major and Clear Creek High School principal Art Goforth.  Mr. Goforth was well respected by thousands of High School Students attending Clear Creek High School.  Mr. Goforth served on Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa.  He is typical of many veterans returning to private life after serving our country after defending DEMOCRACY for our Nation.  The example that he set for these students lives on through the commemoration of his life represented by this sword.  As can imagine, the Japanese serviceman was trying to kill him with this weapon.  Art lived another day and we are better off knowing the Art Goforths of America.

As many of you know by now, it is important that we pass on this legacy to our children, so that they will know, "What makes a person willing to die for his country".  Related to Universities and grade schools and their involvement in the Veterans Museum project, plans are under way to employ a staff of 10 genealogist and 20 volunteer docents in graduate studies of history and political science from the numerous Universities in and around Houston.  We believe that it is an important step that will help those students interested in law and government to become more effective leaders as they hear the personal accounts of Veterans of what it takes to "DEFEND DEMOCRACY" from their point of view.

The Veterans Museum needs your help and suggest that you contact Speaker of the House, Tom Craddick to ensure that the "rider" for the $5 million in pledged funding becomes a reality.

The project got 35 acres, but now it needs $142 million to become a reality

By ROSANNA RUIZ
Copyright © Houston Chronicle

After eight years of cajoling city officials for land, talking up the economic benefits of a new tourist attraction and soliciting high-level support for a cause few politicians could reject, Malcolm Browne's dream of building a national veterans museum in south Houston may finally have a home.

Now all he needs is $142 million.

That's what Browne estimates it will cost to constuct the Veterans Museum in Texas, a 203,000-square-foot star-shaped building to honor veterans of all branches of the military, from the American Revolution to the war in Iraq.

"There really are no national veterans museums that encompasses the valor of all of our services," said Browne, the project's chairman and chief cheerleader.

Browne envisions a museum filled with donated artifacts -- including an 11-volume set of lithographs depicting military life in the 1850s and a gun snatched from a German officer by a captured American soldier who then took 19 of the enemy prisoner -- and oral histories with rotating, educational exhibits.

Preliminary designs call for a three-story building in the shape of a star.  The space in each point of the star will be reserved for each branch of America's military -- Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Marines.

Browne, an investment banker and former Marine who served during the Vietnam War, calls Houston a natural fit for a national museum honoring the American soldier.  Texas has more than 1.75 million military veterans, about 200,000 of them in Harris County, he said.

A Houston home also would place the facility between two other military museums -- the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg and New Orleans' National D-Day Museum.

Rather than viewing Browne's vision as competition, officials from those museums are eager to see the project come to fruition.

"I believe that there is a universal appeal for any museum seeking to honor America's veterans and educate its people on their military history," said Jeff Hunt, chief curator of the Fredericksburg museum.  "As with any such endeavor, its success relies on the dedication and determination of those who envision it and their ability to raise the funds necessary to do the job well."

That remains the ultimate hurdle for Browne and his growing list of supporters.  To date, he has raised only about $7,000.  Browne figures he will need at least $75 million in donations and grant funds before a shovel hits the ground.  By necessity, Browne said, fund raising has had to take a back seat to securing a site.

Company steps up

City of Houston officials said they liked the idea of a museum, but balked at using Ellington for it.  Then-Mayor Lee Brown said Federal Aviation Administration rules prohibited the city from leasing any airport land for a non-aviation use at less than market value.  The city offered to lease the land for $200,000 a year.  Browne wanted to pay $1.

Exxon Mobil came to the project's rescue last November, donating a 35-acre tract at the Gulf Freeway and Scarsdale, property that currently houses a golf driving range.  The land is worth more than $7 million, said Butch Sparks, a museum project adviser who works at Exxon Mobil's Friendswood research facility.

It was Sparks' casual suggestion to a company land management employee that led to the donation.  Sparks, an Air Force veteran, said he spoke up when the company was preparing to sell a parcel adjacent to the driving range.

"Sometimes when you ask for something, you get good results," Sparks said.  "I'm pretty proud of my company."

The land will revert to Exxon Mobil if fund-raising efforts do not make significant progress in five years.

Notable supporters

"For us, land was always the issue," he said.  "Everything is timing and location and now the stars are lined up."

While fund raising has been sparse the past eight years, Browne has an impressive list of supporters, including Gov. Rick Perry, U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, and both U.S. senators from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn.

"I think Browne is doing a heck of a job and we're behind him," said Henry Martinez, a Korean War veteran and color guard commander of the Korean War Veterans Association Texas Lone Star chapter.  "I think the museum is going to work out real good.  We really need something like that over here."

Jim DeGarmo, a Vietnam veteran and member of the Veterans of Foreign War Post No. 10352 in Cloverleaf, said: "I think it's important especially for kids to have some idea of their heritage.  There's a whole generation of kids who are growing up that don't even know about wars."

rosanna.ruiz@chron.com

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First Iraq Medal of Honor Awarded

Smith's Medal of Honor is only the third awarded since Vietnam

The story you probably didn't read on the front page of your local
newspaper and was not a lead story on your evening network news

US President George Bush has presented the first Congressional Medal of Honor of the Iraq war to a soldier killed shortly before the fall of Baghdad.   Sgt Paul Ray Smith's son David, 11, accepted the award - the US military's highest citation for bravery.

Smith is credited with saving dozens of his men from enemy fire by manning a machine gun in an exposed position until he was shot dead.

Smith's Medal of Honor is only the third awarded since the Vietnam war. "With complete disregard for his own life, and under constant enemy fire, Sgt Smith rallied his men and led a counter-attack" when his company was attacked by Iraqi Republican Guards on 4 April 2003, Mr Bush said.

"Sgt Smith continued to fire until he took a fatal round to the head," the president told assembled military officers including Gen Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Smith's wife Birgit and daughter Jessica also attended the ceremony at the White House, as did Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defence.

Source:   BBC News

Click here for more inforation about Iraqi War Heroes

Second Iraq Medal of Honor Awarded

QUANTICO, Va. (AP) - An emotional President Bush said Friday he would present the Medal of Honor -- America's highest military decoration -- to a Marine who died when he jumped on a grenade in Iraq and saved the lives of two comrades.

The medal will be given posthumously to Cpl. Jason Dunham of Scio, N.Y., who died on April 22, 2004 of wounds he suffered when his patrol was ambushed near the Syrian border.

"He and his men stopped a convoy of cars that were trying to make an escape," Bush said during a speech to dedicate a new Marine museum.  "As he moved to search one of the vehicles, an insurgent jumped out and grabbed the corporal by the throat."

During hand-to-hand combat with the insurgent, Dunham called out to his fellow Marines: "No, no, no. Watch his hand!"

"Moments later, an enemy grenade rolled out," Bush said. "Cpl. Dunham did not hesitate.  He jumped on the grenade to protect his fellow Marines.  He used his helmet and his body to absorb the blast."