DES MOINES, IOWA (April 12, 2019) — The Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs will host the 11th Annual Vietnam Veterans Recognition Day on Tuesday, May 7, 2019. Dan Gannon, Chair of the Iowa Commission of Veterans Affairs, will officiate. Governor Kim Reynolds and Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg will give remarks followed by Keynote Speaker Ambassador Kenneth M Quinn, President of the World Food Prize Foundation and former career US Foreign Service Officer.
The point of contact for the ceremony is Dan Gannon, Chair — Iowa Commission of Veterans Affairs; 515-991-5257, gannonobx@aol.com or Steve Lukan, Executive Director, of the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs, 515-727-3444, steven.lukan@iowa.gov.
Tuesday, May 7
11th Annual Vietnam Veterans Recognition Day
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall
Iowa State Capitol
Des Moines, IA
11AM
Additional information can be found below:
A keynote address will be delivered by Ambassador Kenneth M Quinn, President of the World Food Prize Foundation. Ambassador Quinn is highly-decorated for exemplary-service in South Vietnam and Cambodia during the Vietnam War.
This year’s 50th Commemorative Ceremony will honor all those who have served in the Vietnam War Era, and especially those “spouses and families”, who have lost loved-ones, whether during their service in Vietnam or later, who have died as result of their service, which has been defined as the “hidden casualties of Vietnam”. The majority of those casualties are not eligible for inscription upon the Wall: these casualties are honored by a Memory Plaque, dedicated on the Iowa Vietnam Wall grounds.
Ambassador Quinn received the US Army Air Medal, flying over 100 hours of helicopter combat-operations while serving as a District Senior Advisor in the Mekong Delta. He remains the only civilian ever to win this honor.
During his tour in Vietnam, he came under fire on several occasions and was injured in a North Vietnamese rocket-attack. He received the State Department Medal for Heroism and Valor for five separate life-saving actions, including saving a drowning US Air Force sergeant.
After the war, he was extremely instrumental in the release of American POW/MIA’s and personally negotiated the first-ever access to search for POW/MIA’s in North Vietnamese prisons.
Later in his career he worked closely with Gov Robert D Ray and the Federal Government to open Iowa’s borders to the Vietnamese, Laotion, and Cambodian refugees.
He served as Ambassador to Cambodia from 1996 to 1999.
After a 32 year career in the US State Department, Amb Quinn retired and returned to Iowa to assume the role as President of the World Food Prize Foundation.
For the past 20 years, Amb Quinn has dedicated his life to the Foundation’s purpose of inspiring and recognizing contributions to human development through increasing the quality, quantity, and availability of food in the world.
Disabled American Veterans (DAV), will host a free luncheon following the ceremony at the Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center (Veterans Memorial Auditorium), located at 833 5th Ave, Des Moines, Iowa 50309. All are welcome to attend.
