Viewing page 23 of 24

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

the second time, on 25 September 1953, he was ready to submit a substantial plan for a long-term program for the Foundation.

Briefly, Mr. Wilson's plan provided for the establishment of administrative headquarters of the Foundation at Montgomery, Alabama. Because it was recognized than an organization of the scale of the Foundation must have adequate direction, the plan recommended the immediate employment of a salaried executive director. Mr. Wilson then proceeded with a studied recommendation for the organization of the work of the Foundation along a project basis, with volunteer chairmen, assuming responsibility for work in each of nine major categories of activity. The committee approved this program in principle, and named Lieutenant General Laurence S. Kuter as chairman of a sub-committee to canvass the field of retired Air Force general officers to select an appropriate individual to serve as executive director.

At the third meeting of the executive committee, held on 14 December 1953, General Kuter's report was made, and it was the unanimous recommendation of the committee that Brigadier General Hume Peabody (Ret) be offered the position of executive director. At the same time, a decision was made to move the offices of the Foundation to Montgomery as quickly as General Peabody could take over its direction. Accordingly, on 25 January 1954, the administrative offices were opened at Montgomery, Alabama, in space provided for the Foundation by the Air University. To give the executive director the authority to carry on his duties, and to permit the executive committee to keep in close touch with his work, two changes in the by-laws were recommended by the committee. The first of these authorizes the appointment of the director, and the second makes a change in the office of the secretary, with the military commander of the Air University taking over that function from the Assistant Vice Chief of Staff. These amendments are to be submitted to a special meeting of the trustees to be held on 5 March 1954.

Immediately following the meeting of 27 May 1953, letters were sent to the commanders of the major Air Force commands, and inviting them and their associates to become charter members. No other form of membership solicitation has been used. At the end of this first year of the Foundation's existence, more than 2,000 individuals have been enrolled. More than three hundred military organizations have contributed to the Foundation, and are asking the privilege of being enrolled as members, and more than a thousand individuals who contributed less than the minimum required for annual membership ask only to be recognized as "donors" to the Foundation's cause. Everywhere the evidence shows that the need for the Foundation is great, and that the timing of its establishment was right.

The roll of members is indeed a cross section of America. It will be readily understood that because of the nature of our membership effort, most of the members at this time are found among the military. But there is already a substantial representation membership from all walks of life, and among the military, all ranks are represented. The appeal of the Foundation extends through the whole body of the Air Force.

Financially the Foundation has prospered as well. Just as there has been no special drive for membership, there has been no concentrated drive for funds with which to finance its various activities. Nevertheless, by the end of this first year of its life, the Foundation has received almost $35,000.00 in money from membership donations and special gifts. It is on a firm financial footing, fully capable of undertaking the big program of commemoration with which it is entrusted. Plans are actively under way for the encouragement of museum type installations at several major Air Force centers; the publication of a periodical devoted to the recording of Air Force history is planned; and encouragement is being given the Air Force in other programs to commemorate its heroic pioneers.