Our client was Mrs. Judy Duvall, who is the Assistant Director of the Elrod Center at Ouachita Baptist University. Mrs. Duvall is the founder of the Veteran’s Day Luncheon. This event had two purposes. The first purpose was to honor the lives of these veterans and their sacrificial service to our country. The second purpose was to tell their stories.
Mrs. Duvall shared with us that twenty years ago there was over fifty World War II veterans in attendance when this luncheon was first being formed, but twenty years later there are many missing.
This year we had less than ten veterans with us. Many of World War II veterans have passed on or are too ill to attend. This makes this event even more precious and gives those who volunteer a drive to take in the time of celebration of their lives. Time is short with those who can tell us their first-hand experiences of the Second World War, and we will never get these men and women back. Hearing their stories and preserving them by sharing via word-of-mouth with families, and by recording through video or writing (sometimes journaling) is a special bridge we can provide between the generations ahead of of us and the Greatest Generation.
Pre-Planning
Research
We began by finding out where to locate our guests. Thankfully, Mrs. Duvall had a good idea of where we could look. She pointed us towards churches and nursing homes in the area, Larry Cain-Veteran’s Service, and the local Senior Center. We began calling each place and asking for any known World War II veterans that we could contact to invite.
After we made contact, we gathered addresses and phone numbers, and sent out invitations to these veterans and their families. The next phase of research came in when deciding what would be the best gifts for our distinguished guests. We needed to think of what could be meaningful to them, be sensitive to their concerns and needs, and make sure it was nothing that would could harm them.
After much research, our final decision was a large print book by Billy Graham, Going Home, and a veterans challenge coin. The large print ensured they could easily read, and it was on a topic that they could identify with. The challenge coin is something that is becoming a new trend, so they more than likely would not already have one, and could be something they could easily carry with them and be encouraged by.