But as the 10th anniversary of the Oct. 5, 2014 dedication of the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial nears, philanthropist and humanitarian Lois Pope sits in her home and reflects back on how she conceived and spearheaded the building of the memorial. She vividly recalls that the idea had to begin "Somewhere."
Indeed, in the mid-1960s, Mrs. Pope, who was then performing in a Broadway show, had chosen to sing that illustrious song at a holiday benefit for patients at the Rusk Rehabilitation Center in New York, and when she came to the lyric "Hold my hand and I'll take you there," she reached down to take the hand of a young man lying on a hospital gurney in front of the stage.
"He had no hand for me to hold," Mrs. Pope remembers. "I was stunned and could barely finish the song."
Following the performance, she approached the man, inquiring how he lost not just his limb but his entire arm. He told her that it had been blown off in Vietnam. In fact, all the men in the audience were in terrible condition, disabled in some way fighting in that war.
So moved by their plight, Mrs. Pope promised them that if she ever had the financial resources, she would do something grand to recognize their service and sacrifice.
Fast forward to the early 1990s and a trip Mrs. Pope took to Washington DC to see the myriad monuments and memorials on the National Mall, including the Vietnam Memorial.
"I went to trace the name of a cousin who died in the war, and next to me was a man in a wheelchair crying as he touched the name of a loved one on the wall," she relates. "Suddenly a helicopter flew overhead and that man nearly fell on the ground from the booming noise it made. And I had an instant flashback to that day at the Rusk center and the promise I had made to those veterans."
Mrs. Pope walked over to a National Park Ranger patrolling the Mall and said that she had now visited the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial and others, but she couldn't find the one that honored disabled veterans. When told that there wasn't one, she boldly proclaimed, "I will build one!"
She acknowledges that she was completely naïve about how to do so, but she was as determined as one individual could possibly be. Almost every weekday for the next six months, she called the office of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, who was then Jesse Brown, himself a disabled veteran. Brown's assistant would take a message; she and Mrs. Pope became fast phone friends. Finally, one morning the assistant said to Mrs. Pope, "Hold for Secretary Brown."
"I was very intimidated," Mrs. Pope notes. "But I just came right out and told him that America needed a memorial for disabled veterans. And he immediately agreed."
They set a date to meet in Washington and he also introduced Mrs. Pope to Art Wilson, then National Adjutant of the Disabled American Veterans organization, who was also a disabled veteran, and together the trio got to work, forming the Disabled Veterans for Life Memorial Foundation with Mrs. Pope as chairperson. The foundation was charged with raising the more than $80 million to build and establish an endowment for the memorial, as by law at the time no federal funds could be used for this purpose. Mrs. Pope publicly announced she would make the initial gift of $10 million to launch the effort.
The foundation also had to persuade Congress and President Clinton to enact the necessary legislation paving the way for the memorial. That took several years before Congress approved the bill and the President signed it into law on Oct. 24th, 2000.
Then, Mrs. Pope rolled up her sleeves and really got to work, cajoling her friends into supporting the effort and donating the proceeds from her personal foundation's annual Lady in Red galas to the memorial.
Nothing happens quickly, especially in Washington. A decade passed and fundraising had still not achieved its goal. Moreover, Mrs. Pope had to learn to maneuver through what seemed to be miles of bureaucratic red tape, numerous visits, and dozens of designs. For each decision made, others arose that had to be made.
"Some of my friends, not to mention my own brother and others questioned why I didn't just give up. They said there were other worthy people and organizations I could give my time, energy, and support to. I was doing that, too. But I couldn't give up. In fact, I believe all Americans have a moral and solemn obligation to ensure that the men and women who fought for our country, for our freedoms, and for our democracy, and who were permanently injured physically and mentally doing so are never marginalized or forgotten. And I had made a promise to those men at Rusk."
On Oct. 5, 2014, the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial, on a 2.3-acre site at 150 Washington Ave. SW at 2nd St., just west of the U.S. Capitol Building and the U.S. Botanic Gardens, was dedicated in a ceremony presided over by President Barack Obama in front of an audience of more than 5,000 disabled veterans that received global media attention, making this Oct. 5 the 10th anniversary. Oct. 5 is also a National Day of Remembrance for America's Disabled Veterans, thanks to a Congressional Resolution Mrs. Pope championed and which was introduced by U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL) in 2016. She also advocated for federal legislation to bring military service dogs home from war once their service was completed.
But if her unparalleled legacy has to be defined by one initiative, it is the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial. She stresses, "the mission of the memorial is to give disabled veterans the respect they earned but had never received. But it also serves to educate all Americans now, and future generations, about the plight of these heroes. And since it is the closest memorial in terms of physical location to the Capitol, it also stands as a stark reminder to our legislators of the terrible human cost of war."
SOURCE Lois Pope Foundation
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