National Treasures
In spite of the glitz and glamour, planners, attendees and community members had no trouble remembering that valor and courage took center stage at the 2008 Congressional Medal of Honor Conference in Denver.
By Kimberly King
IN THE 1986 FILM HEARTBREAK RIDGE, Clint Eastwood starred as Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway, a career marine and combat veteran who receives the U.S. military’s highest accolade: the Congressional Medal of Honor. In 2006, Eastwood’s companion films Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers told the story behind the iconic flag-raising photograph at the legendary World War II battle site; 27 men at Iwo Jima received Congressional Medals of Honor.
Last September, at the 2008 Congressional Medal of Honor (CMH) Conference in Denver, life imitated art as Eastwood himself received a prestigious accolade from the Honor Society: the Bob Hope Award for Excellence in Entertainment. This award is reserved for Americans who have favorably portrayed the U.S. military and who have distinguished themselves in the entertainment world. Eastwood was a natural choice—the award-winning actor/director/producer’s career spans 60 years and dozens of films, many of them patriotic in nature.
The CMH conference is no shoestring-budget affair. Because of the prestigious nature and high caliber of attendees at the awards ceremony, organizing a successful conference requires a budget of approximately US$1 million for the patriot gala dinner, entertainment, transportation, event security and staff.
This proved to be no easy feat in a slumping economy; intensive planning and fundraising on the part of the CMH Denver Host Committee and Visit Denver began more than 18 months in advance.
“The efforts we put forth with the volunteer host committees, the heavy coordination, constant communication and ability to make adjustments on the fly ultimately provided for a successful event,” said Jennifer Elving, Visit Denver’s senior PR and communications manager.
Fundraising in a Recession
In early 2006, two Denver locals, Tom Allee and Nick Delcalzo, first approached Visit Denver with the idea of hosting the CMH Conference.
“Tom was with Frontier Airlines [before his retirement] and Nick had recently put together a book of photographs called Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty, which featured 116 of our nation’s most honored heroes—recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor,” Elving said. “Visit Denver was happy to be on board, but, since the local hosts cover all expenses for the convention, we needed to wait for a sponsor to commit.”
Allee and Delcalzo, along with Medal of Honor recipient Drew Dix (a native of Pueblo, Colo.—the city with the highest concentration of Medal of Honor recipients in the U.S.) constructed a host committee comprised of entertainment, hospitality, media and PR, volunteer, education, health safety and security and transportation factions and selected prominent members of the Denver community to represent them.
According to Delcalzo, raising funds proved to be the biggest obstacle, but “a well connected host committee and the gracious and generous support of the business and foundation community made all the difference.”
Allee agrees, saying that timing is everything.
“We were fortunate enough to find out at the Boston CMH conference (in September 2006) that Denver had been awarded the convention,” Allee said. “It was particularly important that we started our fundraising before it was announced that the Democratic National Convention would be held in Denver. Once that happened, some of our corporate opportunities dried up pretty fast.”
With funding in place, Visit Denver and the host committee joined forces to begin planning the event. Even smaller scale finance proved trying, Elving says.
“Soliciting donations for the welcome baskets was difficult at first; however, once Visit Denver was able to educate the community on the Medal of Honor event and audience, the donations were secured very easily,” she said.
Arrangements were made regarding hotel accommodations at the Sheraton Denver Downtown.
A schedule of events was also put in order and included, in addition to a black-tie gala and celebrity appearances, a charity golf tournament, school visits and a flag-raising ceremony at City Hall.
“Visit Denver’s ideas to foster community support and hospitality aligned well with the goal of welcoming our nation’s heroes to the Mile High City,” Elving said.
Star Power Fuels Tumultuous Times
“The convention itself is a meeting of the surviving Medal of Honor recipients and, while many of their events are private, there were several opportunities for the public to join us in honoring these men during this historic event,” Elving said.
The public schedule started with singer Carrie Underwood, who gave a tribute concert, and with a private VIP reception and an appearance from country and western star Randy Travis. Prior to the concert, Medal of Honor recipients mounted the stage and a video featuring them was played. The following day, Major League Baseball’s Colorado Rockies played a game in the recipients’ honor. The third evening featured the world premiere of Boeing’s “Medal of Honor” tribute movie. The conference concluded with the Patriot Awards Gala at the Denver Sheraton, where Clint Eastwood, Ben Stein and former First Lady Laura Bush were honored.
Because of the high-profile nature of those in attendance, security was of the utmost importance.
“Medal of Honor recipients are considered national treasures, so they are protected by the Secret Service,” Elving said. “In addition, special arrangements for transportation were arranged for Clint Eastwood—Medal of Honor recipient Drew Dix met him at the airport with a car for transport to the hotel. The Medal of Honor convention was unique for us in that the conference required police motorcades to every event.”
The Denver Police Department provided 24/7 security, and an FBI presence is standard at all Congressional Medal of Honor Society conventions.
“We were very fortunate to have a team that consisted of FBI personnel who have worked at other Medal of Honor conferences to provide the expertise needed to guide local police and security personnel,” Allee said.
In spite of the conference’s glitz and glamour, planners, attendees and community members had no trouble remembering that valor and courage took center stage. During the closing remarks of the final evening’s events, a representative from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society stated that, “No amount of money, power or influence can buy one’s rite of passage to this exclusive circle, and unlike almost any other organization, this group’s members hope that there will be no more inductees.” One+
KIMBERLY KING writes from her home in New York.
What’s New in Denver
• The Denver Zoo (already the fourth-most-popular zoo in America) is planning a US$50 million Asian Tropics exhibit that will open late this year. The 2.6-acre exhibit will have five habitats for Asian elephants, Indian rhinos and Malayan tapirs and will include environments such as streams, sand pits and mud wallows.
• The Colorado Historical Society will be relocating the Colorado History Museum, with construction on the new site starting this year. Construction of the new museum building is estimated to cost approximately $113 million and will be located just south of the current building at 12th and Broadway/Lincoln.
• The Denver Performing Arts Complex is planning a new symphony center to be constructed on the Boettcher Concert Hall site. The new hall will create a new look for the complex as a whole, adding 35,000 square feet of public space to the Speer Boulevard side of the concert hall. This will include more dining and event space, an expanded lobby, education and lecture space, additional restrooms, new beverage stations and retail space.
Fun Facts About the Congressional Medal of Honor
• 3,466 Medals of Honor have been awarded for acts of heroism.
• 42 percent of living recipients earned their medals more than 50 years ago while serving in World War II or the Korean War.
• There were no awards of the Medal of Honor during the Desert Storm, Grenada, Lebanon or Panama conflicts.
Transportation Tips
• Denver International Airport (DIA), located approximately 20 miles northeast of downtown, serves as the primary airport for the area. DIA is the 10th-busiest airport in the world and the largest (53 square miles) in the U.S.
• Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, Centennial Airport and Front Range Airport are all close to the Denver area.
• Amtrak provides service in both directions to Chicago and Emeryville, Calif.
• Mass transportation in the city is coordinated by the Regional Transportation District, which currently operates more than 1,000 buses.