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Steve McCurdy, Founder: Give Them A Medal Project

Steve explains the rationale behind this project and how you can make a difference in the life of a Cold War veteran TODAY.

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Cold War Medal - Presentation Case and Medal Set

1.  Purchase a Medal for a Specific Veteran:

To Order for YOUR Veteran- Click Here – $39

For $39 you can purchase a medal presentation kit including the gold embossed presentation box, the service ribbon, the mini-lapel pin, and the full medal and drape, plus a letter of thanks from the Give Them A Medal founders, supporting veterans organizations, and your own personal note as you enter it at checkout.  The medal will be shipped to the “SHIP TO” address you designate in the checkout form… either to your veteran directly or TO YOU to present to them in person.  In addition to your order honoring your veteran, you add yourself to the number of Americans honoring Veterans and increasing the total that we are able to list as our grass-roots effort mounts.  These numbers will show Congress and the DoD that America is serious about getting the veterans honored this time.

To Order for YOUR Veteran – Click Here – $39

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2.  Purchase a Medal Yourself:

To Order for YOURSELF – Click Here – $39

As a qualified veteran, you may want to order the medal yourself.  We want you to have your medal – but we also want you to participate in the medal “Give” as both a Donor and as a Recipient.  By the time your order arrives at our desk, your medal has already been ordered and paid for  by the person who ordered immediately ahead of you.  Your payment will secure the medal for the NEXT person to order after you – and so on.  In this way, every veteran will receive his or her medal from another grateful American.

For $39 you will receive: a medal presentation kit including the gold embossed presentation box, the service ribbon, the mini-lapel pin, and the full medal and drape, plus a letter of thanks from the Give Them A Medal founders, supporting veterans organizations, and the note of thanks entered by the person who paid for YOUR medal.  The medal will be shipped to the “SHIP TO” address you designate in the checkout form. In addition to your donation honoring the next veteran to place an order, you add yourself to the number of Americans honoring Veterans and increasing the total that we are able to list as our grass-roots effort mounts.  These numbers will show Congress and the DoD that America is serious about getting the veterans honored this time.

To Order for YOURSELF – Click Here – $39

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3.  Donate a Medal:

To DONATE a Medal Click Here – $39

You may not know a Cold War Veteran personally or you may just want to contribute to the vast number of veterans we have in our data bases who would not get recognition otherwise.  Your payment of $39 will ensure a medal will be presented to one of the thousands of vets who occupy our VA hospitals, nursing homes, and homeless shelters today.  Presented personally by local administrators, your veteran will receive: a medal presentation kit including the gold embossed presentation box, the service ribbon, the mini-lapel pin, and the full medal and drape, plus a letter of thanks from the Give Them A Medal founders, supporting veterans organizations, and the note of thanks you enter on the checkout form.  You can leave the SHIP TO information blank because all purchases through this link are directed to our indigent Veteran population.

In addition to your order honoring a Cold War veteran, you add yourself to the number of Americans honoring Veterans and increase the total that we are able to list as our grass-roots effort mounts.  These numbers will show Congress and the DoD that America is serious about getting the veterans honored this time.

To DONATE a Medal Click Here – $39

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4.  Help Us Promote This Website!

For a few minutes of your time you can promote this site to friends and family who may have a Cold War Veteran in their circle that they want to honor.  Sign in for updates and we will count you as SUPPORTING THE CAUSE.

We would LOVE to have our first 10,000 Veterans honored on Veteran’s Day 2010 as we build to 1,000,000 by the December 2011 – the 20 year anniversary of the end of the Cold War.  That cannot happen without your help. Follow us on Twitter, Link to us on Linked-In, become a Fan on Facebook and just send out an email letting your friends know that YOU HAVE FOUND A WAY to say thank you to a forgotten generation of American Cold War Veterans.  Join our mailing list using the form on the right.  We won’t bombard you with email but we will keep you posted on progress and link you to videos of presentations we are making. Like this one:

Give Them A Medal – informal award ceremony video

Things you may want to know and where to find them.

1. About the Medal itself – its history and more details – Medal Info tab

2. Who is behind this – Who We Are tab

3.  Frequently asked questions – FAQ tab...

4.  What a medal presentation looks like – Presentations tab

5.  More information – Blog tab.

6.  Another place to order – ORDER tab

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Why is this commemoration so important?

From 1945 to 1991 America and the Soviet Union and China were embroiled in tensions that George Orwell dubbed – The Cold War.

Seventeen to 25 MILLION service men and women (depending on who is counting) wore the uniform of the United States and kept the unimaginable from happening.  During that period “hotter” wars cropped up here and there and almost all of them bore some relation to the tensions between the US and Communist factions.

In a country of comfort and relative “peace” the notion of the warrior became stained and sullied during the 60s and through to the 80s,.  Warriors returning from Vietnam received no welcome – and instead were reviled publicly and branded “baby burners” and other ugly titles.  As hard as it is to imagine today where we greet our men and women in uniform with intentional and appropriate thanks in airports, train stations – anywhere we encounter them – the warriors serving their country from the 60s into the 80s had to wear “civies” when off duty because of hostility to the uniform. In fact, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ending of the Cold War American warriors had been so successful at keeping flare-ups and casualties to a minimum that the country failed to notice that their freedom had been bought.  The prices that had been paid were often secret, or hidden.

On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the end of the Cold War, it is time to recognize the vast sea of service men and women who sacrificed the comforts of career and family at home and stepped into the gap to ensure that the unthinkable never reach these shores.

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With your help, we are going to –

Give Them A Medal.

We will be locating veterans of the Cold War and presenting them with The United States Cold War Commemorative Medal. (Click the image for a close-up view)

The Cold War Medal was designed by Nadine Russell, the Chief of Creative Heraldry at the Army’s Institute of Heraldry and the designer of many campaign and service medals, including the Southwest Asia Service Medal, the Armed Forces Service Medal, and the Outstanding Military Volunteer Service Medal.

In multiple states, this is an official medal of the National Guard. Plus, the medal has been endorsed and adopted by the American Cold War Veterans organization, The Military Order of Foreign Wars of the United States, with commendations from the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the American Legion with other important veteran organizations getting onboard regularly.

It is the intention of the GIVE THEM A MEDAL PROJECT to award  10,000 medals by Veterans Day, 2010!

December 26th, 2011 will mark the 20th anniversary of the end of the Cold War. With YOUR help, we intend to put medals on the chests of one MILLION Cold War Veterans by that anniversary date.  That is less than 5% of the eligible living veterans – but it is a good start.

Sign up on our page to keep up with our progress.  If you are a veteran, give us that scoop as well.  We’ll keep you posted on our “surprise” medal awarding ceremonies as we locate veterans nationwide and present them the medal.  We draw potential recipients from this group and you will see their ceremonies via video on this site.  You’ll also be able to make your OWN presentations and upload your video of them here as well.

JOIN US – as we

GIVE THEM A MEDAL

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SEE THE LATEST MEDAL PRESENTATIONS HERE