★ ★ National ★ ★

WWII MemorialVolume 4, Number 1 • A Newsletter of the World War II Memorial Society • Fall 2001

A fter years of effort and monthsof delay, construction of the

memorial finally has begun and thenecessary funds have been raised.

Think back to early 1997: anapproved site, but no design; just$10 million in the bank, nearly all ofit start-up funds from the federalgovernment. Today we have anapproved design, work underway,and $175 million in cash andpledges—$150 million of it raisedthrough our public campaign.

Your generous monetary gifts arejust part of the important role youplayed over the past several years. Youspread the word about the memorialthrough your communities, conduct-ed innovative promotional events,and wrote letters of support to news-papers and the commissions thatmust approve the site and design.

This newsletter is filled with thenames of corporations, organiza-tions and individuals who made ourCampaign Across America aresounding success. As one of thearticles mentions, it’s impossible tosingle out everyone who con-tributed. Those who led the wayfinancially—Wal-Mart Stores, theVeterans of Foreign Wars, TheAmerican Legion, SBC Communi-cations, the National Funeral Direc-tors Association, FedEx Corpora-tion, the Lilly Foundation, and theState of Pennsylvania—got theheadlines, but it took the united

Work Begins at Construction SiteNational Chairmen Say “Thank You”

efforts of hundreds of thousands ofindividuals across the country tomake this memorial a reality.

We owe a debt of thanks toCongress, and not just for the fund-ing they provided the project. Thenon-partisan support of its membershas been steadfast since the initialauthorizing legislation was passed in1993. Most recently, President Bushsigned legislation on Memorial Daythat directed the expeditious com-pletion of the memorial and clearedthe way for construction to begin.

Months have passed sinceNovember’s ceremonial ground-breaking. What a glorious, but bit-tersweet day that was, looking out asthousands of WWII veterans rose toaccept the thanks of family andfriends, while remembering the mil-

lions of comrades who no longeranswer the call.

The spirit of that event willremain with us through construc-tion, until we gather together againon the National Mall to dedicate thistribute to sacrifice and achievement.We send our personal thanks to eachand every one of you who helpednurture the National WWII Memo-rial. We will push those involved to“get it done.” Too much time hasbeen wasted the past several years.

May God bless you, your fami-lies, and this great nation.

Sen. Bob DoleNational Chairman

Frederick W. SmithNational Co-Chairman

Construction kicked off on Aug. 27, 2001, with site preparation work at the RainbowPool on the National Mall. News media were on hand to document the initial surveyteam’s arrival. See story on page 4. (Photos by Bob Patrick)

ell pave the way for him to meetGen. Elster.

Accompanied by motion pictureand still cameramen, Kalischentered Elster’s command postunder the watchful eyes of the Ger-man guards and established a rap-port with Elster. He convinced thegeneral that to prove later to theGerman public that his commandwas intact and not demoralized, heshould allow the U.S. cameramen tophotograph the command post per-sonnel at work. This was undoubt-edly the only time a German staffheadquarters was photographed bytheir enemy while fighting was stillunderway.

Kalisch, following his journalis-tic tendencies, offered Elster an out.If he agreed to march his division toa certain open field near the U.S.headquarters and surrender to anAmerican general, Kalisch wouldensure complete press coverage,guaranteeing that the ceremonywould be published worldwide, thusshowing the world that Elster was an

In the World War II Almanac 1931-1945, Robert Goralski documents theSept. 12, 1944, surrender of a Ger-man force of 20,000 men under Maj.Gen. Erich Elster to the U.S. 83rd Inf.Div. According to Goralski, Gen.Elster suggested a face-saving mockbattle that would be “won” by theAmericans, but the U.S. commanderturned him down. The followingaccount from a letter that appeared inthe Oct. 2, 1979, issue of the Wash-ington Star newspaper provides aninteresting perspective on the surren-der. The letter was written by NormanT. Hatch, who lived in Alexandria,Va., at the time it was published.Hatch served in the Marine Corps inthe Pacific during the war.

Col. Betram Kalisch, with whomI worked for 20 years, was pho-

tographic officer for Gen. Bradley’s12th Army Group, and one day,while searching for photo opportu-nities, he met Lt. Sam Magell, whotold him about a German generalwho wished to surrender his wholedivision.

The general’s main con-cern, realizing that he wassurrounded and that to fightwould cause many unneces-sary deaths, was how hecould surrender honorablyso that his family would notsuffer under Hitler’s mad-ness. All field commandershad explicit orders to “standor die.”

Sensing a story, Kalisch,who had served in all fourmilitary services and had adistinguished career in thenewsreel industry, had Mag-

Chronicles of War

BATTLEFIELD EXPLOITS….

2 • World War II Memorial Newsletter, FALL 2001

Col. BertramKalisch

This photo appeared in theWashington Evening Star inSeptember 1944. The captionread: “GERMAN GENERALSURRENDERS ARMY WITH ASMILE—Lt. Col. J.K. French(right) of Fairfax County, Va., andLt. Col. Bertram Kalisch (left) ofForest Hills, Long Island, discussterms of surrender with Gen. ErichElster and his staff at Romorantin,France. Twenty-two thousandGerman soldiers, trapped inSouthern France and harassed bymembers of the Maquis, laid downtheir arms.—Signal Corps Photo”(Photos copyright Washington Post;reprinted by permission of the D.C.Public Library.)

honorable career officer doing thecorrect thing. The effect on world-wide public opinion would be suchas to save Elster’s family from thewrath of Hitler and the general pub-lic condemnation in his homeland.

Elster agreed!Now Kalisch had to sell this idea

to several U.S. generals. After sever-al days of reasonable suspicion on allsides, everyone agreed. Kalisch setthe time of surrender for shortlyafter noon, based on the best light tophotograph the ceremony. He thenplanned the most complete photo-graphic arrangements, including acamera airplane which could get thescope of a whole division stretchedout on the open plain. He invited allof the news media in the area, ofcourse.

See Surrender, p.11

World War II Memorial Newsletter, FALL 2001 • 3

had us locating and extracting bod-ies of civilians. On one occasionwhen we were walking from onework site to another, a woman whoclaimed to be from the Red Crossinterviewed us. She said she knewwe were only able to give our name,rank and serial number, but if wewould give her our home addresses,the Germans would broadcast onshort-wave that we had been takenprisoner. As a result of these broad-casts, our families would know wewere still alive. Several of us in thegroup decided to go along with herand if it did eventually happen, itwould be a big help to our families.

Axis Sally did broadcast thenames, ranks, serial numbers andhome addresses of many POWs fromDec. 11, 1941 through May 6,1945. The Germans thought thiswould sap the morale of the GIs andtheir families, but it had the opposite

A remarkable group of Americansknown as short-wave monitors havebeen referred to as “Home FrontHeroes.” These individuals were aloosely knit group that listened nightlyto Axis Sally, Germany’s propagandabroadcaster, to get the names of Amer-icans taken prisoner of war. What theydid with those names is described in aletter from Frank Davis of Newport,Del., that is excerpted below.

I was a paratrooper in the 506thParachute Regiment of the 101st

Airborne Division that jumped intoNormandy during the D-Day inva-sion. After 30 some days of fighting,we went back to England and laterjumped into Holland in the MarketGarden Affair. After 71 days ofintense fighting we were relievedand sent to a rear area in Mourmel-on, France. Almost immediately, wewere sent back into action at Bas-togne during the German break-through in the Ardennes.

During action at Foy, just out-side Bastogne on Dec. 19th, I wasbadly wounded with shrapnelwounds in my back and in thebacks of my arms and legs. Themedics pulled me off the battlefieldand stuffed my wounds full of sul-fanilamide powder. I was taken tothe 101st Division Field Hospitaland received a shot of pain killer,but before I had a chance to havemy wounds treated, the Germansoverran the field hospital and I wastaken prisoner. I would later learnthat the Army reported to my fami-ly that I was badly wounded andmissing in action.

When Allied bombs hit nearbytowns and villages, the Germans

… AND HOME FRONT HEROES

This is one of 38 postcards received by Frank Davis’ family in April 1945, advising themthat he was alive and a POW. The marks on the card were made by his mother to indi-cate that a thank-you note had been sent. This type of exchange occurred throughout theU.S. during the war.

See Postcards, p.12

effect. Many civilians picked up AxisSally’s broadcasts on their short-waveradios and sent postcards to the fam-ilies of the POWs, letting themknow that their sons, husbands,brothers and fathers were still alive.

The night my name was broad-cast, 38 people listening to theirshort-wave radios heard Axis Sally’sbroadcast and sent postcards to myparents. When I got home, mothertold me again and again how won-derful it was to receive word from somany others who were sharing heranxiety for loved ones. Each mes-sage was additional encouragement.Receiving their messages meant sovery much to her.

Forty-nine years later, in 1995,while looking through some of myparents’ effects, I came across anenvelope that contained the 38 post-cards and letters they received from

4 • World War II Memorial Newsletter, FALL 2001

Site Preparation Work SignalsStart of Memorial Construction

The memorial project passed amajor milestone on Aug. 27

when the joint venture of TompkinsBuilders and Grunley-Walsh Con-struction began preparing theNational Mall site for construction.

Scheduled activity during thefirst few weeks included surveyingthe site and existing utilities; survey-ing and mapping new utilities;installing security fencing, projecttrailers, temporary parking, anderosion control measures; and estab-lishing and mulching tree protec-tion areas.

Actual construction, beginningwith utility relocation and prelimi-nary foundation work, could beginby the end of September. Thememorial is scheduled for comple-tion in early 2004.

The Tompkins/Grunley-Walshjoint venture was awarded the $56million construction contract inJune. Tompkins Builders, estab-lished in Washington, D.C., in1911, is the third largest generalcontractor in the Washington Met-ropolitan area. Grunley Construc-

Fund raising received a dramatic boostfrom public service advertisements fea-turing actor Tom Hanks. The PSA cam-paign, conducted in partnership withThe Advertising Council, generated $90million of donated advertising fromprint, radio and television outlets. Theimpact of the ads on national awarenessis reflected in the number of callsreceived by our toll free number, whichincreased from 5,000 to more than350,000. The ads were created for thecampaign by Marsteller Advertising.

President Bush signs legislation to expe-dite construction of the National WWIIMemorial. Attendees at the MemorialDay ceremony in the White Houseincluded Sen. Bob Dole, national chair-man of the memorial campaign, farright; Amb. Haydn Williams, chairman,ABMC WWII Memorial Committee,second from right; Frederick W. Smith,national co-chairman of the memorialcampaign, third from right, front row;Sen. John Warner, far left; Sen. TimHutchinson, second from left; otherMembers of Congress and veterans grouprepresentatives. Rep. Bob Stump, notshown, sponsored the legislation in theHouse of Representatives. (White House photo)

tion and Walsh Construction, bothheadquartered in Rockville, Mary-land, trace their roots to the Grun-ley-Walsh Construction Companyfounded in 1955.

Construction and renovationprojects the companies participatedin collectively include the Washing-ton Monument, the JeffersonMemorial, the FDR Memorial, theReflecting Pool, the National Air andSpace Museum, the White House,and the U.S. Capitol Building.

Meanwhile, the memorialdesign continued to receive supportfrom the Commission of Fine Artsand the National Capital PlanningCommission.

Since approving the final archi-tectural design last fall, the commis-sions approved several ancillarystructures– an information pavilion,comfort station, access road andcontemplative area – and the granitethat will be used in the memorial.

The National WWII Memorialfund-raising campaign has

received $175 million in cash andpledges.

The four-year campaignreceived donations from corpora-tions, foundations, veterans groups,civic, fraternal and professionalorganizations, states, students andhundreds of thousands of individualAmericans.

American Battle MonumentsCommission Secretary Major Gen-eral John P. Herrling, USA (ret),credited the success of the campaignto the leadership of Senator BobDole, national chairman, and Fred-erick W. Smith, chairman and CEOof FedEx Corporation, who servesas national co-chairman.

“The commitment of time andeffort given to the memorial by Sen-ator Dole and Fred Smith is a trib-ute to their public service,” GeneralHerrling said. “They brought anational focus to our fund-raisingeffort that allowed us to achieve ourgoals.”

The campaign received a signif-icant boost in 1999 when publicservice ads featuring academy awardwinner Tom Hanks began appear-ing across the country. Hanks’ mes-sage to the American people, that“it’s time to say thank you” toAmerica’s WWII generation, strucka responsive chord and created agroundswell of support.

The thanks came from a varietyof sources:

From Wal-Mart and SAM’sClub associates and customers, whodonated $14.8 million, the largestsingle gift…to Zane Fayos, a 12-year-old from Fayetteville, N.Y.,who donated his life savings of

Memorial Campaign Hits $175 Million; Public Response Is Overwhelming

$195 after seeing a Hanks’ publicservice ad.

From the Veterans of ForeignWars, which is leading all veteransgroups with its goal of $6 mil-lion…to students and communityaction councils nationwide thattogether raised $2.5 million.

From The American Legion andSBC Foundation, who gave morethan $3 million each…to theNational Funeral Directors Associa-tion, The Lilly Endowment andFedEx Corporation, $2 million ormore each…to states asked todonate one dollar for each state cit-izen that served in uniform duringWWII, a program that generated$16 million led by Pennsylvania’s $2million gift.

The $175 million receivedincludes nearly $16 million provid-ed by the federal government and$8 million interest earned on funds

deposited with the U.S. Treasury.Funds remaining or received

after all project costs are paid willremain in the National WWIIMemorial Trust Fund. The fundswill be used by the American BattleMonuments Commission solely tobenefit programs of the WWIIMemorial.

Funding SourcesCash and pledges were received from

the following sources:Corporations $ 48.9 millionCharter Members / Individuals $ 46.2 millionStates $ 16.2 millionFederal Government $ 15.8 millionFoundations $ 14.3 millionVeterans Groups $ 13.8 millionEarned Interest $ 8.6 millionFraternal & Professional Groups $ 6.2 millionCause Related Marketing $ 3.0 millionCommunity Action Councils $ 1.7 millionSchools $ .8 million

$175.5 million

World War II Memorial Newsletter, FALL 2001 • 5

FOR INFORMATIONABOUT THE

WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL:

visit our web siteWWIImemorial.com

call1 (800) 639-4WW2

or e-mailcustsvc@wwiimemorial.com

6 • World War II Memorial Newsletter, FALL 2001

The north arch and several pillars representing the states and territories are depicted in a setting of fall colors in this perspective fromthe plaza. (Design by Friedrich St.Florian; rendering by artist Michael McCann)

A springtime visitor to the memorial will see this view while looking across the memorial toward the arch and pillars at the southernend of the plaza. (Design by Friedrich St.Florian; rendering by artist Michael McCann)

World War II Memorial Newsletter, FALL 2001 • 7

To list all contributors that madeour Campaign Across America

a success would take more pages thanare available in this newsletter. Wewould be remiss, however, if we didnot spend a few paragraphs describ-ing some of the campaign highlights.

Corporations

Just as Corporate America, thenation’s “Arsenal of Democracy,”was essential to the success of theAllied victory in the Second WorldWar, so too has today’s CorporateAmerica played an essential role insupporting the memorial. Approxi-mately 280 corporations and com-panies—large and small—con-tributed nearly $50 million.

Eleven corporations contributed amillion dollars or more: Wal-MartStores, Inc., SBC Communications,Inc., FedEx Corporation, BoeingCompany, Abbott Laboratories,Anheuser-Busch Companies, DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund, EastmanKodak, Exxon Mobil, OmnicomGroup, Inc., and Tyco International.

Three of them supported ourefforts in other ways. Wal-Mart cus-tomers and associates not only madethe largest single contribution—$14.8 million—but its promotionalefforts through 3,000 stores and itsnational advertising provided unpar-alleled outreach in local communities.

FedEx Corporation’s supporttouched all facets of the campaign,including developing and launchingthe memorial web site, providing in-kind shipping for educational andpromotional materials, and under-writing campaign events.

SBC Communications, Inc.made a $3 million contribution to

the memorial – the second largestcorporate contribution – and itsemployee/retiree drive reachedfriends, family members, neighborsand community leaders throughoutSBC’s 25-state territory and raisedanother $335,000.

Charter Members / Individuals

More than 500,000 individualsgave a total of $46 million. SarkisAcopian’s $1 million gift topped thelist of individual donors.

Our charter members donated$33.4 million through the cam-paign’s direct mail program, and$7.7 million through our web site ortoll free telephone number.

States

States, commonwealths and ter-ritories honored their WWII veter-ans through the State Donor Pro-gram. All fifty states and one territo-ry donated $16.2 million, led byPennsylvania’s $2 million gift.

This program succeededthrough the dedication and supportof governors, state directors of veter-ans affairs, and legislators across thecountry who sponsored bills andfought for this recognition of theirstate’s WWII veterans.

Veterans

The Veterans of Foreign Warsand The American Legion steppedforward to lead the way in supportof the memorial.

In 1998, theVFW began a“matching gift”program wherebythe organizationmatched eachdollar they col-lected with 50 cents from the VFWnational organization. Their goal is $6million, which will be the second

Wal-Mart, VFW Lead Campaign Successlargest gift of the campaign.

The Ameri-can Legion fami-ly, including theAmerican Legion,American LegionAuxiliary, and theSons of the Amer-ican Legion, were the first majorveterans organization to join thecampaign. The Legion raised morethan $4.3 million.

The Disabled American Veter-ans gave an initial gift of $500,000,then conducted a membership drivethat brought in another $148,000.

Major gifts of $100,000 or morewere received from the ParalyzedVeterans of America, Association ofthe United States Army, MilitaryOrder of the World Wars, and TheRetired Officers Association. In all,over 400 veterans organizations andWWII reunion groups contributed.

Federal Government

Although the legislation thatauthorized the memorial in 1993specified that funding come fromprivate sources, the federal govern-ment contributed nearly $16 mil-lion.

In 1996, $9.8 million was pro-vided to cover initial start-up andon-going administrative costs of theproject: $5 million from the Depart-ment of Defense WWII 50thAnniversary account, and $4.8 mil-lion from the sale of 50th Anniver-sary commemorative coins.

Last year, Senator John Warnersponsored legislation that author-ized an additional $6 million for thememorial from the sale of titaniumreserves.

Foundations

More than 160 foundationscontributed $14.3 million. The fol-

8 • World War II Memorial Newsletter, FALL 2001

lowing gave $1 million or more: theLilly Endowment, Inc., the StarrFoundation, the Harry and GraceSteele Foundation, the KnightFoundation, the Henry Luce Foun-dation, Inc., and the Donald W.Reynolds Foundation.

Fraternal

The B.P.O.Elks, one of thenation’s oldest andmost distin-guished fraternalorganizations, exceeded its goal of rais-ing $1 per member nationwide. TheElks, through lodge contributions andindividual gifts, raised more than $1.3million and contributions continue.

The Knights of Columbus arecontinuing their nationwide cam-paign for the memorial after exceed-ing their $500,000 goal.

Major gifts were also receivedfrom the Daughters of the Ameri-can Revolution ($480,000), theSigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity($101,000), the Fraternal Order ofEagles ($61,000), the Sons of Italyin America ($100,000 pledge), andImage Tours ($65,000).

Professional

The National Funeral DirectorsAssociation conducted the largestsingle nationwide fund-raising eventduring the campaign. On VeteransDay, November 11, 2000, at 2 p.m.EST, millions of bio-degradable red,white and blue balloons werereleased across the country as thekeystone event in the NFDA’s “Cel-ebration of Freedom” Campaign.

The NFDA raised more than

$2.6 million. Their campaign got ajump-start with a $250,000 pledgefrom Wilbert Funeral Services, Inc.and a $100,000 pledge fromBatesville Casket Company.

When their fund-raising campaignconcludes, the NFDA will continue togather names of WWII veterans andhome front workers for the memorial’sRegistry of Remembrances.

The National Association of Fed-eral Credit Unions exceeded its$100,000 goal and continues to raisefunds through a nationwide member-ship drive. Major gifts in the profes-sional associations donor programwere also received from the AlabamaFarmer’s Federation, the NationalAssociation of Retired FederalEmployees, and the National Associa-tion of Electrical Distributors.

Cause Marketing

With the enthu-siastic help of com-panies such as Super8 Motels, PhilipsLighting and others,public awarenessbrought thousands ofcalls and millions ofdollars in support. People were ableto say “thank you” during the courseof their shopping day or while trav-eling across the country.

While most cause-related mar-keting campaigns have drawn to aclose, a few will continue to allow thepublic to honor the memories ofWWII veterans in special ways.

Through the end of this year,American Forests Famous and HistoricTrees is selling a Dwight D. Eisenhow-er Green Ash Tree in Wal-Mart Storesand at events with local veterans organ-izations; Star Roses’ WWII Memorialrose bush is available through April2003; and later this year, AmericanEntertainment Concepts’ From theHeart of the American Veteran is sched-uled for production.

Quad-City Community Action Councilco-chairs Linda Johnson (left) and ViolaLyon at a White House reception honor-ing the WWII Memorial. (Photo cour-tesy of the Dispatch/Argus Leader)

Community Action

Nearly 500 volunteers, workingalone and in Community ActionCouncils, dedicated time, creativity,and enthusiasm to promote thecampaign.

Volunteers organized events,made thousands of presentations,and contributed hundreds of edito-rial letters and articles. They spentcountless hours standing in front ofstores, manning information boothsat local fairs, and canvassing neigh-borhoods, raising almost $2 million.

Thirty volunteers and Commu-nity Action Councils raised morethan $10,000 each, led by ViolaLyon and Linda Johnson, Commu-nity Action Council of the QuadCities of Illinois and Iowa ($86,629);Christine Dialectos of Wyomissing,Pa. ($63,559); and Dave Hilliard,Readers of the Daily Item in Lewis-burg, Pa. ($62,937). Another 127exceeded the $1,000 threshold.

Just as America united to defeattyranny in the 1940s, the nationagain united to say thank you to themembers of our WWII generation.

Thank you, America, for makingthis campaign a resounding success.

World War II Memorial Newsletter, FALL 2001 • 9

All fifty states and Puerto Rico have honored their World War II veterans by participating in the National World War II Memorial“Dollar per Veteran” campaign.

“Dollar per Veteran” campaign

Hundreds of thousands of stu-dents from across the nation

spent the past two years learningabout the Second World War whilesupporting the memorial in theprocess.

Selling snack food, collectingloose change and organizing every-thing from car washes to bake sales,students raised nearly $800,000.More than $1,000 each was raisedby 197 schools.

Leading the way were EagleHigh School, Idaho; BakersfieldHigh School, Calif.; the students ofLouisiana; Altoona Area School Dis-trict, Penn.; the Memphis CitySchools, Tenn.; and MilwaukieHigh School, Ore.

Many of the schools used mate-rials developed by The HistoryChannel to promote awareness ofWWII. The History Channel hon-ored WWII veterans with two WorldPremiere SAVE OUR HISTORY

specials, an award-winning nationalcampaign dedicated to historicpreservation and history education.

In 1999, the network debutedDear Home: Letters from WWII. Astold through the letters sent homeby the soldiers who experienced it,viewers learned what it was like tobe on the front lines during WWII.

In 2000, The History Channelpresented The National World WarII Memorial that traced the memor-ial’s development through thoseplaying key roles in its creation,interweaving personal stories of vet-erans and home front volunteersthat informed viewers of the memo-

rial’s meaning and inspired them tobecome part of the creation.

The network created a variety ofcomponents to complement thesespecials as part of its communityoutreach initiative. Both specialsfeatured a teacher’s manual gearedtoward students in grades 4 through12 that provides an interdisciplinaryapproach to teaching about theWWII effort and guidelines forrecording oral history. Manualswere distributed to more than75,000 educators nationwide.

More than 1,200 schools partici-pated in various phases of the memo-rial education program. Above all,the program was an educationalexperience for participating students,not a fund-raising competition.

The benefits of students’ outreachto WWII heroes in their families andcommunities, hearing firsthand theincredible stories of those who livedthrough the war years, is priceless.

Students, History Channel Benefit Memorial

10 • World War II Memorial Newsletter, FALL 2001

Ghost Wings staff members (from left) Joe Gohrs, Bryan Makos and Adam Makos with SenatorDole at last November’s ceremonial groundbreaking.

I t may be common for youngpeople to acknowledge their

appreciation for veterans, but fewhave devoted their personal lives tohonoring them and supporting theircauses. Such is the case of an enter-prising group of four teenagers, highschool and college students, fromMontoursville, Pa.

They have labored since 1994 todocument the exploits of Americanairmen, culminating in the produc-tion of an aviation history magazinecalled Ghost Wings.

Now in its second year of publi-cation, Ghost Wings, released quar-terly, features 48 glossy color pagesof seldom-heard accounts fromWWII to the Gulf War. The cover ofthe magazine proudly displays itsmission statement: “Preserving theSacrifices of America’s Veterans.”

Inspired by their grandfathers’service stories and pictures fromWWII, the teens began producingan aviation newsletter in 1994,which evolved into the first issue ofGhost Wings magazine in May 1999.They were soon selling the magazineat air shows, retail outlets, and ontheir award-winning web sitewww.ghostwings.com. These youngentrepreneurs, on their own, raisedthe funds to produce each of the fiveissues to date.

The staff of Ghost Wings hasused the publication and web site toraise awareness for the WWIIMemorial Campaign. They havedevoted their back cover ad space tomemorial announcements andhanded out fund-raising brochuresat over 30 air shows.

This past September, EditorAdam Makos represented the viewsof his staff when he testified beforethe National Capital PlanningCommission during the final

Teens’ Aviation Magazine Supports Memorialapproval hearings forthe design of thememorial.

With the magazinenow expanding to 56pages to accommodatethe great stories pouringin, the primary need forcontinued success,according to Makos, isan increase in reader-ship. Veterans are help-ing by ordering gift sub-scriptions for their chil-dren, grandchildren,and local libraries.

Support has alsocome from groups likethe 8th Air Force His-torical Society, whichendorsed the magazine, and indi-viduals like author StephenAmbrose, who encouraged the workof Ghost Wings during a visit withthe publishers last fall. Others canhelp this outstanding project byassisting the staff in the search for

new subscribers, advertisers, andretail outlets.

To learn more, visit www.ghost-wings.com, e-mail ghostwng@csr-link.net., or write to Ghost WingsMagazine, 1004 Yeagle Road, Mon-toursville, PA 17754.

World War II Memorial Newsletter, FALL 2001 • 11

On the day set for the surren-der, all were present on the U.S.side. Our generals were still some-what dubious. The time for Gen.Elster’s appearance came and went.Another hour went by and then asecond. Still no Elster. By this time,Kalisch was having General Trou-ble, but he convinced the staff towait another 30 minutes.

Finally, down the road cameElster in his staff car, and marchingbehind him came his whole divi-sion. They reached as far back asone could see, and slowly but surelythey marched into the open fieldand stacked their arms. Gen. Elster

offered his side arms in symbolicsurrender, and everything was pho-tographed in great detail.

Gen. Elster was late because hehad had a flat tire and it had to bepatched before they could travel onit. He apparently wanted to arrivein style and almost missed his ownparty.

So ends the story of the onlysurrender in history of an entireenemy division arranged primarilyfor photographic purposes. What-ever the reason, it saved many lives.

An editor’s note at the end of the let-ter read: “Col. Kalisch modestly con-

firms this account. ‘I was just fortu-nate to be at the right spot at the righttime,’ he explains. His rapport withthe German general was establishedwhen Col. Kalisch mentioned that hismother came from a village inWurtemberg near Gen. Elster’s birth-place. ‘Ah, we are neighbors!’ the gen-eral exclaimed.”

(Col. Kalisch died in 1985 at the ageof 83. The letter and photos werebrought to our attention by CharterMember Bob Wilson, Col. Kalisch’snephew.)

Surrender, continued from p.2

A crowd of 15,000, mostly WWII veterans and fam-ilies and friends, attended the ceremonial ground-

breaking for the National WWII Memorial on Veter-ans Day last fall at the memorial’s RainbowPool site on the National Mall.

President Clinton told those gath-ered, “We are the children of your sac-rifice, and we thank you forever.”

Senator Bob Dole thanked hisfellow WWII veterans for theirservice, and said, “For some thismemorial will be a place tomourn. For millions of others, itwill be a place to learn, to reflect,and to draw inspiration forwhatever tests confront genera-tions yet unborn.”

Haydn Williams, chairmanof ABMC’s memorial committee,said that WWII “changed foreverthe face of American life and thedirection of world history. The addi-tion of the WWII Memorial to theMall’s great landmarks will represent a con-tinuation of the American story. It will providea linkage to the democratic ideals of the past.”

“The members of my generation hold within themthousands of stories,” said Tuskegee Airman Luther

Smith, “stories of events that unfolded many years ago.The telling of those stories will end all too soon, but thelessons they teach must be remembered for generations

to come.”Actor Tom Hanks brought a hush to

the crowd when he read a dispatch thatWWII war correspondent Ernie Pyle

had filed from Italy in December1943.

Other participants includedRep. Marcy Kaptur, who intro-duced the legislation to author-ize the memorial; WWII veteranMembers of Congress; and rep-resentatives of the WWII gener-ation, including 101-year-oldGold Star Mother WinifredLancy.

Production costs of the cere-mony were underwritten by Steven

Spielberg. Others contributing tothe program’s success were Wal-Mart

Stores, Inc., FedEx Corporation, TheHistory Channel, The Coca-Cola Co.,

Signature Advertising, LLC, the Departmentof Defense and Military District of Washington, the

Department of Veterans Affairs, and hundreds of stu-dents and volunteers.

WWII Generation Honored at Memorial Groundbreaking Ceremony

12 • World War II Memorial Newsletter, FALL 2001

A sitting governor and six retiredgeneral officers are among 11

commissioners appointed to theAmerican Battle MonumentsCommission by PresidentBush.

The new commis-sioners replace thoseappointed during Presi-dent Clinton’s adminis-tration. Appointed were:

Lt. Gen. Julius W. Bec-ton, Jr., U.S. Army (Ret), Va.;Maj. Gen. Patrick H. Brady, U.S.Army (Ret), Wash.; and Gen. Fred-erick M. Franks, Jr., U.S. Army(Ret), Pa.

Gen. P.X. Kelly, U.S. Marine

Bush Names New ABMC CommissionersCorps (Ret), Va; Col. AntonioLopez, U.S. Air Force (Ret), Tenn.;and Mr. Joseph E. Persico, N.Y.

Gov. Thomas J. Ridge, Pa.;CMSgt. Sara A. Sellers, U.S.

Air Force (Ret), Tenn.;and Former SenatorAlan K. Simpson, Wyo.

Maj. Gen. Will HillTankersley, U.S. Army

Reserve (Ret), Ala.; andBrig. Gen. Ellen Turner,

U.S. Air Force (Ret), Texas.Maj. Gen. John P. Herrling,

U.S. Army (Ret), will continue toserve as secretary of the commission.

ABMC, the federal agency des-ignated by Congress to establish the

the short-wave operators. They camefrom the East Coast, the Southernand central parts of the country.

I immediately wrote to all 38original addresses of those who hadwritten a card. The letter explainedmy background and that I was hop-ing to hear from the person whohad written the original card, ormaybe from their immediate family.I wanted to express my sincerethanks not only for myself but alsoon behalf of all the other POWs.

It has always astonished me thatso few people ever knew that theshort-wave monitoring took place.Only the families of those who didthe monitoring and the families ofPOWs who received their cardswere aware of these activities.

As a result of my letters andnewspaper and magazine articles,my wife and I have been able toidentify many more of the short-wave monitors. When we started,we had hopes of identifying maybea hundred or more of these wonder-ful people, but at last count we havethe names and addresses of 469!

The short-wave monitors werean important part of the lives of thePOWs, their families and ournational history.

(If you have information on individ-uals who were short-wave monitorsduring WWII, please contact FrankDavis by writing to 1600 VictoryDrive, Newport, Del. 19804.)

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Postcards, continued from p.3

National WWII Memorial, isresponsible for 24 American militarycemeteries and 27 memorials, mon-uments and markers in 15 countries,including five memorials in the U.S.