Distinguished Americans Appeal to President Obama: Honor America's WWI Veterans!

WASHINGTON, Nov. 11, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This Veterans Day, highly distinguished Americans from across society's spectrum – organized by FamilySecurityMatters.org – reissues an open letter/petition to President Obama, demanding that he honor America's World War One veterans by allowing the replacement of the Mojave Desert War Memorial Cross, the sole National Monument to the nearly 5 million American veterans of that war.  This is the third appeal in 6 months; both previous appeals, issued on behalf of twenty-three million veterans, have been ignored by their Commander-in-Chief.

Reminiscent of President Reagan's famous challenge to Gorbachev - "Tear down this wall!" – signatories to this letter/petition (found here: http://www.HonorOurWWOneVets.org) ask President Obama to "Put Back This Cross!"  They include: former Senator Rick Santorum; former Speaker Newt Gingrich; two Medal of Honor recipients; retired military leaders from Major Generals to Lt. Colonels; a Pulitzer and Peabody, Emmy-award-winner; former U.S. Ambassador and director of Voice of America; the president/CEO of The Catholic League; business leaders; a former Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney; the Lt. Colonel who carried the "nuclear football" for President Clinton; the lead counsel for the VFW; and even a survivor of the USS/Indianapolis.

They - and We the People – demand President Obama's swift action to defend the integrity of federal war memorials and honor the dignity and memory of America's war veterans.

Six months have passed since the Mojave Desert War Memorial Cross was desecrated and stolen by vandals on May 9, 2010.  A serious federal crime has been committed – and nearly 5 million American veterans are denied their only national monument – but President Obama and his administration refuse to act.

Carol Taber, president of FamilySecurityMatters.org said, "As we've explained to President Obama, we've raised private funds to replace the cross with an exact replica.  No federal effort or funds are required…but we will not rest until our nation's sole federal war memorial honoring nearly 150,000 Americans who perished in WWI is restored to its original, 76-year- old resting place. Not now, not ever."

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy rightly remarked that the Mojave Desert War Memorial Cross "evokes thousands of small crosses in foreign fields marking the graves of Americans who fell in battles, battles whose tragedies are compounded if the fallen are forgotten."

SOURCE Family Security Matters