FIFTH ARMY ASSOCIATION |
FAA Provides Assistance to Congressional Medal of Honor Society The Fifth Army Association provided critical support to enable over 30 Congressional Medal of Honor recipients to spend a week in San Antonio fully engaged with the military, the community, and our schools. They were joined by fifteen widows of recipients and dozens of their family members. It was a week full of fun and gaiety, mixed in with a somber realization of the incredible sacrifices these men, and those who came before them, made for our country. Most importantly, throughout the week these heroes spent their days interacting with thousands of our high school students discussing character development and what it means in life to be a person of character. When the Congressional Medal of Honor Society choose San Antonio for their annual convention and celebration, MG Pat Brady (USA, Ret), himself a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, and Dan Pedrotti, the Chairman of the Board of the Host Committee, called the Fifth Army Association and asked for our help. And help we did! Nine of the fourteen key personnel who formed the Board/Host Committee and made this event possible came from the Fifth Army Association, seven of whom are also Fort Sam Houston Distinguished Quartermasters. They would go on to produce what the CMoH Society calls their most successful conference and celebration ever. The week started on Sunday, 29 September, with the Lewis Air Legends Reception when they landed, where Fifth Army Association’s own Lieutenant General John Evans (USA, Ret) was the Master of Ceremonies. The next evening the Fifth Army Association sponsored and ran the Fort Sam Houston Quadrangle Medal of Honor Reception, with all one hundred Medal of Honor guests and 350 community leaders from all walks of life attending. Thursday centered on their two most meaningful events: the Medal of Honor Memorial Service at the Alamo, and that evening’s Awards Gala. Friday, they decompressed at the Mexican Charreada Rodeo before heading home the next morning. The most unforgettable event was the Medal of Honor Annual Awards Gala, held on Thursday, 3 October at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in downtown San Antonio. Already being talked about as one of the greatest Gala’s in San Antonio history, there were over 1500 people in attendance and involved an all-star cast. First and foremost, we had 33 Medal of Honor recipients in attendance. The Master of Ceremonies was Gary Sinise, with Chef Robert Irving of TV fame working alongside the great kitchen staff at the Center to produce an incredible meal. The highlight of the evening came when George Strait came on stage and regaled the very receptive audience with a couple of his mega-hits during dinner. Finally, but certainly not least, the Medal of Honor Society honored Fifth Army Association Charter Member and Distinguished Quartermaster Tres Kleberg as the National Citizen of the Year, as voted on by every living Medal of Honor recipient. For this event, the Association also worked hard to enable over 100 NCOs to join this event free of charge and meet these incredible men. The big take-away for the week is the Medal of Honor Character Development Program that several school districts are now considering for their middle and high schools in this area. To read more about this program, go to the following link: https://www.cmohs.org/lessons/overview | FAA Receives $75,000 Grant in Support of the Fifth Army Caisson Mission! The Fifth Army Association recently received a $75,000 grant in support of a number of initiatives on Fort Sam Houston, the largest being the revitalization of the Caisson Mission and Detachment Area. The Diana Davis Spencer Foundation is providing critically needed resources for items that are either not authorized for the military to fund, or too hard to get prioritized funding due to operational needs elsewhere. One of these is the continued building of our herd of the beautiful, large, Percheron horses you can see in the pictures on this page. We have totally replaced our old herd, and now have 12 young and healthy horses. This grant will enable the herd to reach the 16 horse required to properly handle the large number of funerals they perform every year, especially with the temporary closing of the Arlington Caisson Detachment for the next year. But the grant is providing funds for much more than the horses. We also can now purchase a much needed small trailer to help the Soldiers maintain the new pastures on Fort Sam Houston for these animals. It also will provide some of the specific clothing required of our young Soldiers to perform this sacred mission that is not covered in their clothing allowance. Finally, the grant provides funding to build a historic app for your IPhone or Android that will allow you to travel on Post and use the app to follow a historic trail on the original Post, or to just find out more about the history of facilities as you pass the buildings. We are grateful to Ms Diana David Spencer and her team, who took the time to travel to San Antonio and see first hand how their foundation could play a key role in supporting our Solders of Fifth Army as they perform this sacred mission. | Famous Monuments Donated to FAA for Caisson Detachment and VA Cemetery If you have been on Post lately, you may have noticed an enormous amount of construction and pasture expansion near Staff Post Road. This is part of a $15m revitalization of the entire Caisson Detachment Area, to include renovating three major buildings, construction of a horse training pavilion, and expansion and enhancing of the pastures from the original 6 acres to 22 acres. As part of the revitalization project, and in honor of the Soldiers and horses who man this Detachment and perform the funerals, Dr Alfonso (Lon) Mellijor has donated the famous Duty First monument created by world renowned artist and sculptor James Muir for placement at the entrance of the Detachment area. This 14-foot statue of a Soldier on horseback has been on display at the Mellijor museum in Chicago for the past 20 years. Dr Mellijor and Mr Muir visited Fort Sam Houston this past summer, and were incredibly impressed with both the Funeral and Caisson teams here, and the revitalization project. Even more so, they were struck by the importance of the Caisson mission: to conduct funerals for fallen Soldiers in the most dignified and respectful manner possible. Dr Mellijor agreed with the Association, who accompanied him during his visit, that this would be the perfect location for the monument, appraised recently at $160,000. The monument has a special place in Dr Mellijor's heart, as his dad, a cavalry scout himself, was used as the model for the Soldier riding the horse in this monument. Dr
Mellijor also visited the Fort Sam Houston Veterans Administration
Cemetery, and has donated a second monument for display at that
location. The monument, the American Pieta, was also created by James
Muir and is appraised at $500,000. This particular monument is
breathtaking, as it mirrors the famous Madonna della Pieta statue by Michelangelo but is of
Lady Liberty holding a fallen warrior in her arms instead. The VA
agreed the Fort Sam Houston VA Cemetery is the perfect place for this
monument as a tribute to each and every warrior interred there. The Fifth Army Association is waiting word on a grant proposal submitted for $25,500 that will enable the transport of the two monuments from Chicago to Fort Sam Houston. |