Celebrities scheduled to appear

Jon Voight

Jon Voight, the acclaimed Hollywood actor who won an Academy Award for his portrayal of a paraplegic Vietnam veteran in the 1978 film Coming Home, will address Convention delegates at the Saturday morning (August 1) session. Voight will be speaking on the movement to institute a nation al Vietnam Veterans Day holiday.

Born in Yonkers, New York, in 1938, Voight graduated from Catholic University in Washington, D.C, in 1960. His breakthrough film came in 1969 when he appeared in the critically and popularly acclaimed movie Midnight Cowboy. He portrayed Joe Buck, a male hustler from Texas trying to make his way on the mean streets of New York City. The film won the Best Picture of the Year Oscar and Voight and co-star Dustin Hoffman were nominated as Best Actor.

Voight, who will sign photographs at the 3:00 autographing session on Saturday and receive an award at that evening’s Awards Banquet, went on to appear in dozens of films and TV shows. That includes portraying Lt. Milo Minderbinder in Mike Nichol’s 1970 adaptation of the iconic Joseph Heller World War II novel, Catch 22, and in the leading role in John Boorman’s 1972 blockbuster, Deliverance.

In 1993, he took over the role of Woodrow F. Call from Tommy Lee Jones in Return to Lonesome Dove. He played Howard Cossell in the 2001 film Ali.

Pat Sajak

Pat Sajak, who will receive the Excellence in the Arts Award at the Saturday night, August 1, Awards Banquet, was born in Chicago in 1946. He grew up there, graduating from Farragut High School and attending Columbia College. While going to college and working nights as a desk clerk at the Palmer House Hotel, he also worked as an overnight newscaster at WEDC, a small local radio station.

In 1968, he joined the U.S. Army, and was sent to Vietnam. After a few months as a finance clerk, he was transferred into Armed Forces Radio and given the morning show on AFVN in Saigon where he yelled, “Good Morning, Vietnam!” for a year and a half. He finished his military career at the Pentagon in 1970.

After his discharge in late 1970, Sajak stayed in Washington trying to find radio or TV work. With no success on the broadcasting front, he again found himself working as a hotel desk clerk, then moved to Nashville where he went to work at the local NBC television affiliate, WSM, Channel 4. He spent five years there doing jobs as varied as staff announcer, talk-show host, disc jockey at WSM’s sister radio station, and as the nightly weatherman.

He went to Los Angeles in 1977 to be the full-time weatherman on KNBC-TV. In 1981, Merv Griffin asked Sajak to take over as host of Wheel of Fortune, the daytime game show on NBC. He was an immediate hit, and continued to be when the nighttime version of the show went on the air in September 1983. It has been the No. 1 program in syndicated television ever since. The show has received three Emmy Awards, a People’s Choice Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Sajak has guest-starred on dozens of comedy, drama, game and talk series, and hosted talk shows on CBS and Fox News Channel. He currently heads his own production company, P.A.T. Productions, has a music publishing company, owns two radio stations in Maryland, and creates a line of games through PatSajakGames.com.

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré will deliver the Keynote Speech at the Opening Ceremonies of Vietnam Veterans of America’s 13th biennial National Convention on Wednesday morning, July 29, at the Galt House Hotel in Louisville.

General Honore is best known for earning the reputation as the “Category 5 General” who led Task Force Katrina in the aftermath of the devastating hurricanes that struck the Gulf Coast in the summer of 2005. He is currently a Senior Scientist with The Gallup Organization, where he works on determining levels of preparedness, and is a CNN Preparedness Contributor.

General Honoré is a native of Lakeland, Louisiana. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Infantry and awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Vocational Agriculture upon graduation from Southern University and A&M College in 1971. He holds a Master of Arts in Human Resources from Troy State University as well as several Honorary Doctorates.

Prior to his command of Joint Task Force-Katrina General Honoré served in a variety of command and staff positions, focusing on Defense Support, Civil Authorities and Homeland Defense. That includes Vice Director for Operations, J-3, The Joint Staff, Washington, D.C., and Commander, Standing Joint Force Headquarters-Homeland Security, for the United States Northern Command

As Vice Director for Operations, he led the Defense Department’s planning and preparation for the anticipated Y2K Millennium situation. He also planned and oversaw the military response to the Space Shuttle Columbia Tragedy and the Washington, D.C. Sniper Shootings.

His other military assignments included:
            Commanding General, First Army
            Commanding General, U.S. Northern Command
            Commanding General, 2d Infantry Division, Korea
            Deputy Commanding General, Army Infantry Center &School, Fort Benning
            Assistant Division Commander, 1st Calvary Division, Fort Hood

General Honoré retired on February 29, 2008, following 37 years of active service with the United States Army.

John Phelps

John Phelps, who will receive the VVA Excellence in the Arts Award at the Saturday night, August 1, Awards Banquet, is an award-winning artist and sculptor who specializes in oil paintings of the American West. The Wyoming native and Vietnam veteran’s works portray the early years in American history in the West through the present day. A lifetime of cowboying, horse packing, hunting and fishing lends authenticity to his subject matter.
John Phelps was born and raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He attended the University of Wyoming, joined the U.S. Navy, and served in the Vietnam War. After his military service, Phelps worked served as a guide for elk and bighorn sheep hunters in the Fitzpatrick and Glacier Wilderness areas in Wyoming. He has lived and worked in Dubois, Wyoming, for twenty-five years.

The honors and awards John Phelps has received in his long, distinguished career include doing commissioned works for Jackson Hole Old West Days and the Wyoming Centennial, designing the 1998 Wyoming Conservation Stamp, receiving the 1999 Award of Excellence at the NatureWorks Wildlife Art Show in Tulsa, Oklahoma, sculpting the World War II monument for the Fremont County Veterans Association and the Vietnam Helmet for Veterans Plaza Committee in New York City.

John Phelps’ oil painting of U.S. Marines in action in Vietnam graced the cover of the September/October 2008 issue of The VVA Veteran.

His website is www.johnphelps.com

Retired Marine Lt. Col. Michael Strobl

Retired Marine Lt. Col. Michael Strobl will receive the VVA President’s Award for Excellence in the Arts at the Saturday night, August 1, Awards Banquet.

Strobl, a native of Grand Junction, Colorado, enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1983. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in December 1987 and served around the world in various duties as a field artilleryman. He deployed with both the 15th and 13th Marine Expeditionary Units (Special Operations Capable) and served in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as an artillery platoon commander during Desert Storm.

In April 2004, while serving with the Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico, Virginia, he volunteered to accompany the body of Marine Lance Corporal Chance Phelps, who had been killed in Iraq, from Dover Air Force Base to his home in Wyoming. Col. Strobl kept a personal memoir of that extraordinary mission.

The memoir subsequently was published in magazines, newspapers, and in the National Endowment for the Arts’ anthology of veterans’ writings called Operation Homecoming. The journal also was the inspiration for the acclaimed 2009 HBO movie Taking Chance, for which Col. Strobl co-wrote the screenplay. The film stars Kevin Bacon in the leading role as Col. Strobl.

He retired from the Marine Corps in 2007 and works at the Pentagon. He also is working on his dissertation for a Ph.D. in economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

Heather French Henry

Heather French Henry, a native of Maysville, Kentucky, who has been an active veterans’ advocate since winning the Miss America crown in 2000, will take part in the Saturday afternoon autographing and book-signing session. The daughter of a disabled Vietnam veteran, Heather French followed her father into the halls of VA hospitals for treatments, experienced his night terrors, and stood by his side as he recovered from severe post-war emotional trauma.

After winning the Miss America title in 2000, she traveled more than 300,000 miles across the United States on a national speaking tour she called “Our Forgotten Heroes: Honoring Our Nation’s Homeless Veterans.” She visited veterans’ facilities, met with countless veterans, and went to Washington to lobby members of Congress on veterans’ issues. She made a memorable appearance at VVA’s 2000 National Leadership Conference in Buffalo, N.Y.

During her Miss America tour, veterans’ healthcare issues became another serious focus and she began a second campaign began called “Fighting the Silent Enemy: Hepatitis C.” She toured the country with hepatitis C advocates and held events where hundreds of veterans were screened and made aware of the dangers of hepatitis C.

Heather French Henry continues to travel across the country to raise awareness and funding for veterans’ issues through the Heather French Foundation for Veterans, Inc., which she set up during tour as Miss America. “I will always be the daughter of a veteran,” she said, “and therefore I will always honor those who fell, by continuing to serve those who live.”

Blue Eyed Soul, former members of Dean Martin's Golddiggers and Dingalings, have entertained patients at VA Hospitals around the country for the last two years. Supported by VVA’s Veterans Support Foundation (VSF) and Home Box Office (HBO), Blue Eyed Soul (Michelle DellaFave and Lindsay Bloom) also have entertained veterans gatherings around the nation. At the VVA National Convention they will take part in the Golf Tournament, the Opening Ceremonies on Wednesday, and will perform friday night.