Donate to A Brave Service
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Preserving History
The unit histories of the 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment and other units that served in Vietnam were actually documented fairly thoroughly during the War. But the vast majority of those records were subject to security classification, and locked away for many years. As the years passed, most were declassified, and transferred to the National Archives & Records Administration for permanent storage. Available to the public in name only, veterans needed to hire a researcher or pay the travel costs associated with visiting the Archives. Many veterans had no idea these records were available, and even those that did had trouble accessing them.
Your donations will allow A Brave Service to continue the service of accessing and digitizing these records. In the past, we have found copies of Purple Heart orders that veterans were missing for over 50 years, which allowed them to finally get their personnel files corrected, and long overdue medals awarded. The Daily Staff Journals retrieved from the Archives in College Park, Maryland offer a glimpse into the daily lives of the men that served. Long forgotten hilltops and firebases have been re-discovered by veterans reading about their own unit’s service in these valuable archival records.
Another service that your donations can assist with, is the preservation and digitization of individual soldier’s tour photos. Photographs snapped in Vietnam 50 years ago, and then set aside in a shoe box or photo album, left to time’s slow decay. Through the use of a high definition plate scanner purchased through donated funds, we can ensure that those valuable photos, and the memories that come with them, are preserved forever in digital form.
Telling the Story
Arguably the most important part of our mission. In the over four years the 3-12 Infantry was in Vietnam, thousands and thousands of men served in its ranks. Each one has a story to tell. A Brave Service attends reunions, both formal and informal, and spends time listening to and documenting the oral histories of Vietnam veterans and family members.
We are able to use modern day mapping services like ArcGIS and Google Earth to plot map locations of the many locations the battalion and its supporting units were stationed. Through the use of Daily Journals, After Action Reports, tour photos and veteran interviews, we create complex multimedia imagery that helps to tell the story of the Braves of the 3-12 Infantry.
Donated funds help to offset travel expenses related to these trips, allowing the organization to go to the where the veterans are, collecting and sharing information and stories.
Honoring the Fallen
The 3-12 Infantry Regiment lost over 265 men during the Vietnam War. To honor their sacrifices, Mark Coonrad, President of the Board for A Brave Service, mapped out the gravesites of these brave men within the United States and is dedicated to visiting each one. At the gravesites, he leaves a penny and a small American flag as a token of respect. He then writes a personal vignette about the soldier buried there.
Sometimes, the veteran’s family members or fellow veterans join Mark at the cemetery or in town, creating moments of shared remembrance and tribute.
Your donations help to offset travel costs. Mark combines gravesite visits with other travel to help allay as much of the expense as he can, however, there are some sites to which he would need to make a dedicated trip in order visit. Meeting with family members and honoring the men killed in action is some of the most moving, important work the organization does.
Administrative Costs
Nobody likes to think of their donation going to administrative costs. We’re not excited about spending funds for that kind of stuff either, but the fact is we have some expenses that are administrative and not directly related to the organization’s mission. We do everything we can to keep costs down – our Board is 100% volunteer and we have no paid staff. We get as much software as we can (Photoshop, webhosting and the software to produce the site, email, arcGIS, bookkeeping tools) through TechSoup, which gives us great discounts, but most of it isn’t free.
We need some help with this area, too. Keeping the lights on is not glamorous, but it’s necessary. We pledge to take our duties to this organization seriously and with our administrative costs, as with all costs, we’ll demonstrate that we do through transparency and good stewardship.