1:00pm
Archibald Room
 |
Screening of hit HBO film, Taking Chance. Bill Nelson, HBO’s CEO and Chief Executive (and a VVA member) will be on hand to introduce the film. Also making brief remarks will be retired Marine LTC Mike Strobl, who co-wrote the screenplay based on his experiences escorting the body of Marine LCP Chance Phelps to his home in Wyoming, and the artist and Vietnam veteran John Phelps, Chance Phelps’ father.
Convention delegates attending will receive a free copy of the DVD. A first showing of the film will take place Friday at 3:00pm. |
||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
2:00pm |
|||||||||||||||||
| Willis Room | |||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||
| Linda West, the author of Beyond the Rice Paddies, the acclaimed memoir of growing up in a small South Vietnamese village during the American War, will do a talk on that book
Linda will sign her book at 3:00pm in the Ballroom Foyer |
|||||||||||||||||
| Clements Room | |||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||
| Eric Haney, author of Inside Delta Force, will discuss how his military experiences helped shape his post-military career, including getting involved with To Honor. To Cure.—an initiative that honors veterans by flying them to their Memorials in DC. Haney served for 20 years in the U.S. Army as a combat infantryman, Ranger and was a founding operator of Delta Force.
Eric will sign his book at 3:00pm in the Ballroom Foyer |
|||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
3:00pm |
|||||||||||||||||
| Archiebald Room | |||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||
| Screening of the film, Old Enemies, New Friends, a documentary chronicling the 2007 VVA Veterans Initiative trip to Vietnam produced and directed by Steven Van Hiller, a documentary filmmaker and Marine Corps Vietnam veteran. | |||||||||||||||||
| Grand Ballroom Foyer | |||||||||||||||||
| Celebrity Signing | |||||||||||||||||
 |
Jon Voight (free photo) |
||||||||||||||||
| 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 and 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.
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. |
|||||||||||||||||
 |
Pat Sajak (free photo) |
||||||||||||||||
| 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. 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. |
|||||||||||||||||
 |
Heather French (free photo) |
||||||||||||||||
| 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. |
|||||||||||||||||
 |
Michelle DellaFave & Lindsay Bloom (free photo) |
||||||||||||||||
| 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 | |||||||||||||||||
 |
John Phelps (free copy of art) |
||||||||||||||||
| John Phelps was born and raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He joined the U.S. Navy, and served in the Vietnam War.
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. |
|||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||
|
Linda West will be signing copies of her book Beyond the Rice Paddies. Her book will be available for purchase at that time. Net proceeds are donated to Organizations supporting our Veterans, including Vietnam Veterans of America. |
|||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||
| Eric Haney will be signing copies of his book Inside Delta Force. His book will be available for purchase at that time. | |||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
4:30pm |
|||||||||||||||||
| Willis Room | |||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||
| Catholic Mass staring Father Phil (sorry no photos available) | |||||||||||||||||