Also participating are retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Nels Running, director, DoD Commemorations Committee, and Army Col. Charles Borchini, deputy director

Rear Adm. Quigley: I'd like to introduce Mr. Gayden Thompson. He'll be the first of the speakers this afternoon. And again, this is to discuss the various commemorative activities corresponding to the 50th anniversary of the Korean War.

Mr. Thompson?

Mr. Thompson: Thank you very much. It's a great pleasure for us to be here this afternoon because what we'd like to do is to explain to you what we, as a grateful nation, intend to do to honor the many veterans, both American and allied, who fought in the Korean War.

Q: Could you give us your name?

Mr. Thompson: My name is Gayden Thompson. That's G-A-Y-D-E-N, Thompson. I'm the deputy under secretary of the Army for International Affairs. And the reason why I am responsible for this commemorative exercise is that the secretary of the Army was made the executive agent by the secretary of Defense, similar to the way that we commemorated the 50th anniversary of World War II. And to follow up on that, we have organized a joint committee that includes members of all the services, as well as civilian members, and are organizing, as my staff will tell you this afternoon, to commemorate this over a four-period, which will last until 2003.

But we do see it as an international commemoration because in addition to the United States and the 20 other allied nations that fought under the U.N. flag in Korea, we are certainly doing a great deal of commemorative collaboration, if you will, with the Republic of Korea, both here in the United States as well as in Korea itself.

As I said, two simple missions. One is to honor our veterans for the work that they did during that period so that they will not feel that they were forgotten and that the heroism that they displayed during that period will be recognized. And secondly is to educate the American public and people, as well as in an international sense, about what happened during the Korean War and how that war was fought, and fought largely by American, allied soldiers in the defense of the freedom of South Korea. And the South Korea that we see today, the Republic of Korea, is greatly a result of the hard work that they did during that period.

If you'll permit me, I will certainly be available to take your questions as well, but I'd like to introduce Major General Nels Running, who is a retired United States Air Force officer, who has lots of experience in Korea in his active military career, and he is my director for the Commemorative Committee. And I also have Colonel Charles Borchini, who is also the deputy director of that committee. And what we'd like to do is walk you through a little bit of the things that we have that will help us as we go through this commemorative period. So as I said, I'll be happy to take questions as we move along. So thank you very much.

Let me introduce General Running.

Maj. Gen. Running: Thank you very much, Mr. Thompson.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for the opportunity to inform you and ask you in turn to help inform the American public about this great commemorative period in which we are about to enter.

On the 25th of June 1950, you will recall that North Korea, starting with a barrage of artillery, in the early morning hours invaded South Korea with some 90,000 to 100,00 troops. The South Korean Army was under-equipped, ill-trained, unprepared for such an onslaught.

It was indeed a surprise attack.

President Truman responded to President Syngman Rhee's call for assistance and ordered immediate air and naval assistance to the Republic of Korea. Simultaneously, the United States undertook in the United Nations Security Council to obtain resolutions, voted favorably, unanimously in the absence of the Soviet Union, that the United Nations for the first time in its history would meet its charter of coming to the assistance of a sovereign nation under attack from outside forces. Those resolutions provided the foundation for the introduction of U.S. ground forces and, as Mr. Thompson has told you, 20 other nations besides Korea to come under the United Nations command flag and fight alongside us in the Korean War.

This June 25th, 50 years later, we will open the official commemoration period that runs till Veterans Day 2003. On Sunday, we will start first with a 10:00 [a.m.] wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknown in Arlington Cemetery, and then at 4:00 in the afternoon, the opening ceremony, hosted by Secretary of Defense Cohen, keynoted by President Clinton. We will also have distinguished veteran Senator John Glenn on the dais to make some comments. Ambassador Lee will represent Korea. He will make comments. We will have several distinguished members of the Cabinet and the military departments present as well.

We are anticipating 10,000 veterans of the Korean War, along with their families. The Korean War Veterans Memorial on the Mall is the setting. It will include Ms. Connie Stevens, who at the age of 15 was a USO performer in the Korean War. She will also perform several melodies at this opening ceremony and will sing the traditional "God Bless America" for the closing. The president and Ambassador Lee will lay a wreath jointly at the Korean War Veterans Memorial.

In a matter of a couple of days later, there will be another ceremony in Arlington Cemetery for the dedication of a plaque and a tree planted in memory of Task Force Smith. The significance of Task Force Smith is that under Colonel Smith, this task force was the first ground combat contact between United States forces and the North Koreans. It occurred in the vicinity of present-day Osan, Korea, which is just south of Seoul, the capital.

Many events are scheduled nationwide. We at the Commemoration Committee are the Department of Defense Commemoration Committee, charged by the Congress with managing, if you will, and coordinating the nation's commemoration, activities that are being carried out by communities, schools, veterans' service organizations, such as your local VFW, American Legion, AmVets, and so on, Korean War Veterans' Association, any number of activities going on, attempting to bring the recognition and honor to the veterans which has so long been forgotten.

Indeed, as many of you know, the war was referred to for years as "the Forgotten War," started by being classified as a "police action." In the political-military atmosphere of the shadow of World War II, this nation was not anxious to get engaged in yet another war. Classified as a "police action," it meant that the typical honors and recognition weren't there.

And when the war terminated, the veterans returned to the United States on an individual basis. It was not units coming home to ticker-tape parades down the main street of America. Instead, it was individuals coming back. They were often shunned. At least their feeling was they were shunned. The country was busy with an economic recovery from World War II and were too busy to be doing parades and rending honors.

So what we have done over the past two years this committee was actually initiated -- the publicity, getting the information out, just the fact that we were having a commemoration, that the nation was going to remember, starting with a very important element that's been on the air just for a year now -- is our website [http://korea50.army.mil/], on which a wealth of information is available. And a number of people have made contact. That has generated tremendous response.

I carry a letter that we received from a Marine sergeant just the day that I began my duty back on the 17th of April, last month -- or two months ago. The sergeant said, in effect, "I didn't know that anybody cared." He said, "I came home, after having spent that terrible winter in 40-degree-below-zero weather, ill-equipped, uniforms unable to shelter me, freezing to death, the hardships we went through." He said, "I came back and no one cared. And in fact, perhaps, the veterans' service organization wouldn't recognize me, because I hadn't been in real combat. I had been in a 'police action.'" "And so I went about my business," he said, "but I wrote, got your package the other day, and it brought a tear to my eye because I realized at long last that someone cares."

And that is the mission, is to see that each and every one of the 1.8 million veterans or the families of those deceased recognize that this nation does care, this is a grateful nation, we do appreciate.

And furthermore, the government of Korea and the Korean people very much appreciate what the 21 nations who came to their rescue did for them. The economic miracle that is Korea today is reflected in magnificent skyscrapers, automobiles that choke the freeways both in Korea and in the United States, if you've seen the Hyundais driving down the street. It is a spirit of cooperation, admiration and respect that exists mutually between the two nations that has fostered a remarkable relationship that has weathered 50 years that perhaps have not always been the smoothest in the world, as you know.

Well, we at the committee have -- by the fact that we're here, you know that I have a public affairs directorate. And the director of public affairs is enlisting your support. We have press kits, we have materials with us, some of the materials on display -- just a beginning. A very important element, as Mr. Thompson mentioned, is informing and educating. Inform the public, educate. We are in contact with a number of teachers' conferences. We are trying to get through the layers of education hierarchy to get information out. Teachers that come to the conferences grab up the materials.

Colonel Borchini, do you have some of those materials with you? I'd like to mention those right now as a way of getting the word out.

Col. Borchini: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name's Charles Borchini. I work for General Running and Mr. Thompson. I'll show you some of the educational and commemorative materials we have available for our nation. I'd like to start with some of the products for younger children.

We have a little book. It's a novel based on fact written by a Korean grandmother telling the story to her granddaughter of how, when she was a young child with her family when the war broke out, they climbed on a small boat, crossed the Han River south of Seoul, and then climbed onto the roof of what's called -- what the book has called a peace-bound train to Pusan, where they were able to escape the war. We mail this out to schools. We also have the story on our web page so teachers and students can download it. It's a wonderful story for young children to tell them about the horrors of war and the family separations that occur.

We've worked with the company that produces this little scholastic magazine called "Cobblestone." Many schools across the nation subscribe to it already. We worked with the staff and assisted them as they wrote the articles in this little booklet that schools receive.

We have also purchased many copies ourselves that we mail out to schools by the case load. And we have also placed this booklet on our web page. It includes a time line of the Korean War, major events, discusses the major leaders on both sides of the Korean War, has an interview with Korean War veterans, talks about racial issues during the Korean War; another wonderful tool to educate our young students.

One effort that we're very proud about this year in particular is the staff on the committee has worked with the National History Day Program, based out of the University of Maryland. National History Day involves approximately 40,000 teachers and 600,000 students across the country, beginning at the local level and competing all the way up to the national level, very similar to the National Spelling Bee competition.

In this year's book, the topic is "Turning Points in American History." They include it as one of just three or four recommended topics -- the Korean War. Again, they talked about various issues in the articles they placed in the book, to help the students get some of their own ideas, as they then produce their projects for the competition, which will culminate next week at the University of Maryland. General Running and the staff from our Education and Product Development Directorate have been reviewing many of the book reports or the papers that the students have written -- and participating in the judging.

We have produced a large number of bookmarks. You have them in your press kits; got a couple here. You can key on them. They are based on the blue -- the light blue and white field, which is the United Nations battle streamer. We give these out to many different organizations around the country. We are producing a large number on a wide variety of subjects.

On my left --

Maj. Gen. Running: On the back of those, each one is an individual teaching point that corresponds to the topic, which is mentioned on the front. And we have about -- at least two dozen --

Col. Borchini: -- two dozen different ones --

Maj. Gen. Running: -- topics.

Col. Borchini: -- that are either being produced or are already on hand right now.

Maj. Gen. Running: Also, the address of the committee and the website, always trying to get those contacts coming in.

Col. Borchini: On our left, we have probably our most wonderful poster to date. And later on today, when you do leave, we'll provide you with a copy of that poster and a couple of other posters.

This poster was drawn by an Army veteran who fought in Vietnam and taught at the Army's Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth -- he also today works as a cartoonist with the Washington Post -- Mr. Patrick Reynolds. We contracted with him to draw this wonderful poster.

As you can see from the distance, it is the map of the Republic of Korea. And it depicts the major events of the Korean War, from the initial invasion, to the holding-on to the toe at the Pusan perimeter, to Inchon, to MacArthur's Inchon landing, and then the Chinese intervention and the pushing out of the United Nations forces that had approached the Yalu River, and then the ultimate stalemate along the 38th parallel.

Around the perimeter of the map it depicts the various servicemen from all 22 nations that served under the United Nations command as well as the North Korean and Chinese forces. And then at the top, the leaders from both sides.

We've taken the Reynolds poster and we've done a couple of different things with it. One of the most interesting things, we've worked with Patrick Reynolds and we've produced series of baseball or Pokemon-style cards for each of the characters that are depicted around the perimeter, We've also then placed information on the back, which we then will provide these cards to the schools for the teachers and students to use. We've also taken the Reynolds poster, we've shrunken it down to a placemat-sized setting and listed the dates of the national events and the events in the Republic of Korea that will be conducted over the next three and a half years to use at small settings, formal dinners, again, to give people a memento and to also highlight the events as they are going to be conducted over the next several years.

On my right, I have another poster that is what we call a chronology poster, and you'll be receiving a copy of that today in your packets. It is probably for a little bit of an older age student. It goes into a little bit of detail for the major events for each of the years of the Korean War. We've taken both that poster and the Reynolds poster, and on the reverse side we're having printed a teacher's guide so that the teachers can use the information whether it's bibliographies, maps, geographical maps of the world, which countries participated in the Korean War, the flags of those countries that participated, word searches, to help the teachers think about different things so that the students may not go home and forget the Korean War.

We've produced well over 10,000 of the posters now. We have 30,000 that are due in, and we're going to produce more to mail out to communities across the nation. We've produced a large number of other posters and educational materials on a wide variety of subjects, from prisoners of war and missing in action to women in the Korean War, posters on each of the different services, highlighting their contributions -- African Americans, Hispanic Americans -- to highlight what they did.

On my immediate right, you can see the flag that this committee has adopted in conjunction with the Republic of Korea. It is the flag for the official commemoration of the Korean War. In the middle, in the light blue and white again is the United Nations battle streamer. In the very center, the gold 22 stars representing the 20 United Nations countries; Italy, which was not a member of the United Nations at the time, and the Republic of Korea. And then in the center, the TaeGuk, adopted from the Republic of Korea flag, that stands for peace and harmony.

At the top, you see the words "Korean War" and then "6.25." We refer to it as the Korean War.

The Republic of Korea refers to it by the date, so that they can actually make sure there is no confusion as -- what is the date, what is the war, so that they can record that and know what war they're talking about.

And at the bottom, probably the most important piece of all was added by our American veterans -- that "freedom is not free."

Both our countries, the Republic of Korea and the United States, use this flag. We provide this flag and all of our educational materials and posters to what we call "Commemorative Communities" across the nation. One of the gentlemen asked me earlier, "How can I get that beautiful poster?" We encourage communities across the nation to become Commemorative Communities, not necessarily just communities; it could be cities, towns, and states, but it can be schools and classrooms and businesses whom -- communities that agree to do things to honor veterans, whether it's holding a parade or a dinner, or bringing a veteran into a classroom and asking him or her to talk about their experiences, renaming events after the Korean War veterans, have a veteran throw a ball out at a Little League baseball game.

We give them everything that we produce, along with the flag and a certificate from the secretary of Defense designating them as an official community. And we hope, in that way, we can multiply the impact upon the veterans and America that the Korean War veterans are not forgotten.

I'd just like to mention a couple other things. In your press kits, we have a facts sheet as an example of one of over 80 facts sheets that we're producing on a wide variety of subjects, to include bibliographies on the key leaders.

The general mentioned our web page. There's information on that in there. It's a very, very important way to get the word out. General Running and our staff have recently just found out, since we started the Web page last May, May a year ago, we've had almost three- quarters of a million visitors that have come to the site, which is nice.

But what's most interesting, from the e-mails that we received -- and we respond back to every one of them -- over 50 percent of them are written by veterans. And these veterans are in their late 60s and 70s and 80s today. So they do read and use the Web page.

We produce a little newsletter to get the word out to folks who perhaps do not access the web page, highlighting in particular what commemorative communities are doing across the nation.

We've worked with all of the military departments -- the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines -- and each of the services are doing their own things. In the Army's service magazine, Soldier's magazine, last month they devoted a large section of the magazine to the Korean War commemoration. This month they put our beautiful Reynolds poster and our chronology poster as a foldout insert.

We work with veterans' service organizations -- in this case, the Graybeards magazine, produced by the Korean War Veterans' Association. And on the back, they placed an advertisement depicting one of the most famous photographs from the war, highlighting the opening ceremony events here in Washington.

Northwest Airlines, one of many companies across the nation that are working with us, has placed an advertisement in their magazine for us, talks about the Korean War and again highlights -- you can see the picture in here -- a picture depicting the opening events.

The last thing I'll show you is, we have a series of billboards, these two billboards here, that are going up across the nation, to highlight the opening ceremony events here in Washington and in Seoul on June 25th, to again let the American people know that freedom is not free and that we do not forget our Korean War veterans.

Sir, that's all I have.

Maj. Gen. Running: Thank you, Charlie.

A further word on the Commemorative Communities. The Veterans of Foreign Wars -- I was looking at the roster of members. There are well over 300 local chapters have become Commemorative Communities. The Military Museum of Fort Missoula, Montana, I know so many of you have been there, but they have become a Commemorative Community, and there are veterans living in the State of Montana, of which I'm a native, if you couldn't tell. But the University of Pittsburgh has a marvelous website I was visiting the other day, and I was checking through their conference information; the 15th and 16th of this month, a big conference dealing with the Korean War. Over 200,000 veterans in the Western Pennsylvania area surrounding Pittsburgh. A great team to have on as a Commemorative Community, and another way to get the word out.

But, you know, there are a lot of folks out there in small town American, even though 50 percent of these responses we get on e-mail are veterans, a lot of folks don't have access to things like that, and it's the media, particularly the press, TV, that are getting down to the TV set, to the newspaper in the local area that can help us get out the word. That's why we think it's important that we talk with you and that we enlist your support. It's a great country, and there are a million ways to get to a million people. We just hope to push the buttons that get all of them connected.

I wanted to mention one other thing and that is our corporate outreach program. We have written to all of the major companies, at least we got all the Fortune 500 companies, and a series of others, asking their support. Now, we are prohibited by law from accepting financial support, and so we ask them to do things such as use their own corporate news letters, their own publicity media to get out the word, and they have signed up in droves. We're getting great support.

Among those, on the 14th of June, just next week, Commissioner Bud Selig, of Major League Baseball, will be down here to join with Chairman Shelton in the Arlington Cemetery to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown. He'll have with him Captain Jerry Coleman, who is a famous ball player and Korean War veteran. Several other Korean War veterans have been invited. Captain Ted Williams is one that comes to mind; don't know if he'll be able to make it because of the condition of his health. But Major League Baseball plans to help us publicize this by putting up our banner, our Commemorative Community flag in all of the stadiums. There will be 15 games the day of this opening, on Sunday the 25th. You will see that flying. They will have jumbotron displays with videos and so forth. A great effort. They are printing some of our products for insertion in their programs and for handing out on their own. He said, you know, we don't sell that many programs compared to the crowds!

we get!

, so we want to print enough to hand everyone that handout. A great effort. Great support.

AOL.com has signed up. We're linked. Coca-Cola. You name it, I mean, the big companies are out there and supporting us. Well, that's not enough, we'd like to get to the little companies too. So all business is welcome as a Commemorative Community. Anyone can do it. In World War II they had about 7,000 Commemorative Communities. This week, our count has passed 1,600, and we haven't opened yet officially, but I don't think I should be happy if we don't have at least 10,000 Commemorative Communities by the time 2003 rolls around. A great way to reach veterans at the grassroots level and spread the word that the nation does remember.

I would like now just to pause briefly and let you view a couple of public service announcements that we have. So far we have about seven of these completed, both -- we have the nation's leadership. President Clinton has a done a couple for us, but also famous actors and others.

(Begin Public Service Announcements.)

President Clinton [on videotape]: Fifty years ago a world still reeling from the Second World War faced the terrible prospect of a new war on June 25th, 1950, when North Korean forces invaded South Korea without warning. Some have called this the forgotten war. But we must never erase it from our nation's memory.

Not far from the White House a monument to the Korean War proclaims these four simple words: Freedom is not free. We who enjoy freedom today honor the heroism and the sacrifice of the men and women who defended freedom far from our shores and enhanced freedom for all Americans here at home. I am proud to say a grateful nation remembers.

James Garner [on videotape]: Fifty years ago the United States, the Republic of Korea and 20 other countries fought for the first time under the United Nations banner against Stalinist North Korea and communist China. The Korean War raged for three long years. More than 33,000 Americans lost their lives. Another hundred thousand were wounded, and over 7,000 became POWs. For those veterans who stood their ground to stop communist aggression played a major role in this nation's Cold War victory. Today 6 million American veterans of the Korean War are alive. During the 50th anniversary commemoration of this war we pause to honor and thank these uncommon patriots, both living and dead, and their families. We must remember the past and study and learn from it to ensure better tomorrows. I'm James Garner. A grateful nation remembers. (End of Public Service Announcements.)

Maj. Gen. Running: These public service announcements we will have reproduced on a series of videotapes for distribution to the media as well.

We are now prepared to take any questions that we may have inspired with this presentation. Thank you.

Mr. Thompson: Nels, just right before we do this, let me just mention that, while the secretary of the Army, Louis Caldera, is both the leader in this, executive agent for the Department of Defense in this commemorative effort, this is very much of a joint service commemoration. We have, as I mentioned, members from each of the services on our staff, and we are working with each of the services to have commemorative events that depict specific periods of their own contributions in that effort: for example, the Marines at the breakout at the Chosin Reservoir; the Navy with not only their air carrier battle groups but also during the Inchon landings; the Air Force, obviously, over MiG Alley; and the Army throughout the campaign, along with the Marine Corps and others, on the ground. And we also have a member from the Coast Guard because the Coast Guard was also a major contributor in that war effort.

So this is very much of a joint exercise, and we work with all the service historians. Each of the service chiefs and their staffs have been very, very helpful in helping us to get this commemorative effort together and ready to go. And as we said, we will launch this, if you will, on the 25th of June of this year, which is a Sunday, which is, coincidentally, the same day of the week that the original attack on South Korea by North Korea was held in 1950.

So again, thank you for your attention to this. And as Nels said, we ready to take your questions.

Maj. Gen. Running: We will have available over here on the side of the room for your questions later in particular details, the layout of the site. But this is the Korean War Veterans Memorial, in this area, and the stage and supporting facilities here, seating depicted with these charts. This is on the Mall, as you know, just across from the Lincoln Memorial, across the circle, and across the Reflecting Pond from the Vietnam Memorial, but this depiction. And Commander Bender will be available to the side for your specific questions later.

Thank you.

Any questions? Yes, sir?

Q: These 50th anniversaries over the last decade have been often sullied by controversy. I'm thinking of at the World War II commemorative there was a controversy over dropping the A-bomb over Japan, why it was done and the reasons. The 50th anniversary of the Air Force was sullied by the Kelly Flinn allegations. That kind of permeated that whole year. To what extent are you concerned that No Gun Ri, no matter what the investigation shows, is going to cast a pall over a lot of your commemorative activities and to a great degree you're going to be answering questions of to what extent the U.S. troops participated in massacres in those early days?

Maj. Gen. Running: The No Gun Ri investigation, as you are well aware, I'm sure, is a separate and distinct matter that is being investigated very thoroughly, from my understanding, by both sides, the Koreans and the U.S., working in coordination to achieve, the best they can, what is the truth about that situation. Of course, we expect there may be some implications, but the purpose of this commemoration is to remember the word "commemoration." And what we're talking about is remembering, we're recognizing, we're honoring, because certainly 1.8 million veterans who served in that theater cannot be afforded any guilt or innocence or any judgment based upon an incident such as No Gun Ri.

I think what I heard on -- I don't recall which channel, but on TV -- a characterization that -- you know, it really comes down to perhaps a discussion of innocents -- like No Gun Ri -- caught in the crossfire of a very violent brutal warfare. And if you saw some of the video clips -- even in these public-service announcements, the videos that we'll be showing at that display -- it was a brutal war -- not to be surprised.

But I think, if we remember the main purpose, remembering those veterans who served honorably and who did well, and recognizing them with the honors afforded by the Republic of Korea, the pins and other awards we will provide them, I think the main purpose will be well-served. And I don't expect there should be a significant imposition on the commemoration.

Q: But do you feel, if the report comes out in a couple months saying that there was an incident, is it going to be incumbent on the Commemorative Committee to provide educational materials kind of summarizing what happened, to get it out --

Maj. Gen. Running: No.

Q: -- to the schools?

Maj. Gen. Running: No. Any matter like that, I think, would be handled by the Office of Secretary of Defense on our side and the Ministry of National Defense on the Korean side, or other agencies of their government, in a special selective way. The commemoration -- that's not our charter. The Congress didn't ask us to get involved in that, and neither has the department. So I would not anticipate any response from us, other than referring you to the appropriate authority.

Thanks.

Yes, sir?

Q: Well, there's also controversial elements, like the MacArthur element --

Maj. Gen. Running: Yes.

Q: -- questions of MacArthur's judgment.

Maj. Gen. Running: Yes.

Q: Those are being raised again with new books. The old questions about whether regiments bugged out on some parts of the peninsula, whether there was some bad leadership. How is that handled in all your literature?

Maj. Gen. Running: Well, everything that we do, all these products we have produced -- my committee is joint to begin with, so there is service representation from each of the services. But very meticulously, we do the drafting of these materials or ask services to provide us supportive material to draft. Then these are vetted through all of the historians, so each service gets its vote. We have what you call a true committee product here.

That is not anyone's particular design. It was voted on and massaged and re-edited by everyone involved. So at least from our perspective -- and I have asked for constant feedback from the services -- they are all guaranteeing me that they have their job; they have their agreement that what we have presented is their view of the truth.

Now, who can say what's the story between General MacArthur and President Truman? There are books written on it; there are movies reflecting different perspectives. It's another one of those that is a subject for discussion. And what can we say? It will be discussed.

We don't have an official view at this committee on what they did was right or wrong. We do have the facts. That's what we try to present and to present them in a way that is understood and educational.

If you go to the library in all of the schools that have libraries you probably will find several books dealing with World War II -- several, at least, books dealing with World War II. You will probably find several books dealing with the Vietnam War. Let me tell you how many libraries I have visited and how many used book stores I have visited, or even the current Crown and Barnes & Noble, and how many books do I find on the Korean War. Most often, zero. There are a lot of them that should be in the used book stores, out of print and whatnot, new editions being printed. But you don't find them.

So, education. It is important that we get this word out. And we're looking for ways, and we're open to suggestions how do we get the word out. But controversies like that are part of the education. I think it's healthy, it's good.

Q: What's your budget?

Maj. Gen. Running: The Congress authorized us for the full period of four years to spend up to $7 million.

Q: What's your staff?

Maj. Gen. Running: I have about 30 individuals representing all the services, and some civilian hires as well.

Q: Thank you.

Mr. Thompson: Thank you very much.

Q: Thank you.