Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Desert Storm 20th Anniversary Commemoration/Reunion Invitation

It is hard to believe it has been two decades since Operation Desert Storm and Scott and I are extremely excited about attending the coming reunion in Texas.

We wanted to make sure that all Storm vets knew about this so you can view the invitation video and website from President Bush below:

 http://bush.tamu.edu/scowcroft/

 Hope to see you there!

Pearl Harbor 69th Anniversary

Today as we remember the 69th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a day that forever changed America, let us remember and commemorate those some 2,408 men and women who perished on that fateful day. Our Military Forces lost 188 aircraft as well as 4 battleships which were sunk. They included The USS Arizona BB-39, The USS California BB-44,The USS Oklahoma BB-37, and The USS West Virgina BB-48. Let us also pay tribute and commemorate those who survived that vicious and unprovoked attack. At the time of the attack there were approximately some 60,000 military personnel on the island of Oahu. Out of those 60,000 there are only some 3,000 still alive who will remember and commemorate this 69th Anniversary.

I was lucky enough to befriend a Pearl Harbor Survivor way back in December of 1993. His name is Franky Frucci and I would like to dedicate this blog to him, wherever he is. Franky was stationed at Hickam Air Field on the morning of December 7th 1941 and had no idea that he would become part of that "day of infamy" as President Roosevelt called it. I feel very blessed to have heard Franky's story first hand and to imagine what that day was like, while listening to his story. As a token of our friendship as well as my awe of Franky and his experiences, he gave me an autographed Pearl Harbor Survivor License Plate that is shown in the picture. It's a momento that I will always cherish and hold dear. Tomorrow we owe it to Franky and those roughly 3,000 other survivors to remember them and their sacrifices, as well as those who lost their lives on that December morning 69 years ago today...

The pictures below were taken with the old Brownie camera below as well...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a license plate given to Scott as a token of our friendship from Franky Frucci:

Veterans Day Convocation at New Britton Elementary in Fishers, IN

This Veterans Day was probably my (John's) most busy ever.  Scott and I were able to be heard all across the country on radio shows and it was great.

I think some of the most special and meaningful events are the convocations put on by kids in schools.  My niece and nephew participated in such an event at their school, New Britton Elementary in Fishers, IN.  I always appreciate the excitement and patriotism of the kids.  I wanted to upload a few pictures...

Korean War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient Charles George

Above picture of the ceremony honoring CMH Recipient Charles George.

Self Explanatory picture above is the group of Korean War Veterans Association Members from Charlotte NC Chapter 265 at the ceremony to honor Medal of Honor Recipient Charles George at The Yellow Hill Veterans Cemetery Cherokee, NC - 10/9/10

Above, Scott Stump poses with one of very few living Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients - Date of Picture Oct 8th Location Cherokee, NC.

Honor Flight

I, Scott, wanted to include some images of a previous honor flight where I was a guardian.

HonorFlight - a history as explained by founder Jeff Miller

Jeff Miller explains his original motivations and vision for his highly successful HonorFlight program in the video below.
Yes, it is quite shaky, so if you have problems with motion sickness you should be careful.

IllustrateMyLife's Mission and Vision Statement

Welcome!

We thought that our first blog entry should be our motivation behind this project and site -- therefore we wanted to list our mission and vision statements:

Mission Statement: We are guided and driven by our passion to help our customers and their families  honor and celebrate important milestones in their lives with permanent and personalized mementos. Because of this passion, we will deliver customer service excellence and satisfaction. All of our long-term plans and short-term actions will be molded by our set of core values that are shared by each and every associate.

Vision Statement: Our vision is to help individuals and families commemorate, celebrate, and keep alive their important memories and achievements.