Coming Together to Write VVA’s Final Chapter  

BY TOM BURKE

Our most-recent Convention is now history. My thanks to all of you who put your faith in me to lead this great organization over the next two years. I am extremely grateful.

You can rest assured I will do the best that I can to steer us through a course that we can all agree on. It seems that we had a few disagreements at the Convention concerning the Resolutions. Many voiced their opinions about what they felt. There’s nothing wrong with that, except we did not accomplish much. A large majority of what we worked so hard to bring forth went down to defeat.

All the effort that was put into developing The Plan, along with the Resolutions that were offered, was meant to move our legacy ahead. All came to a resounding halt. The membership voiced its opinion.

Your newly installed leadership has heard you loud and clear. I do, however, believe that many of you did not understand what we were trying to do, and were confused by the way that it was presented. Understood. That’s on us, not on you.

One delegate said that The Plan was an attempt to consolidate power. That is far from the truth of what we were intending to do. We were attempting to consolidate the Board from 24 to 14 members. This would have made the Board more responsive and would have reduced the amount of money we spend on Board meetings.

I am going to repeat what I said at the Convention. Whether under the banner of VVA or any future entity, we remain the guardians of our own history. Let us pledge today that we will continue to protect it, elevate it, and pass it on to a new generation. That is, and always will be, the VVA mission. We were born from a conviction that Vietnam War veterans should not be forgotten or defined by the war that we fought.

As we face our individual sunset years, we must come together to write our collective final chapter—not one of closure, but of legacy. If we step forward boldly, history will remember us not for what we endured, but for what we built over the last 50 years and what we are about to leave behind to generations of veterans to come. We’re doing this not to dwell on the past, but to seek a better future for all who have served and are still serving.

Let us honor our founding spirit by ensuring the story of the Vietnam veteran—our story—doesn’t end in silence or in forgotten books on dusty library shelves. Instead, it should be proclaimed long and loud by our choice of the future guardians of our legacy.

I ask you all to consider what you believe our legacy should be and how we should get there. Do not only provide criticism to tear down all the proposals that may come before you. Instead, how about offering new ideas and solutions that can help resolve the problem?

I am open to anyone’s suggestions as to how to make this happen. The officers and Board will be working to provide a justifiable solution to our current situation.

Stay tuned.

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