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in the hospitals, at home, recuperating from injuries perhaps 
received in defense of this great country.
    Join me, if you will, in remembrance of all those widows, 
the widowers and the children of those who remain to make life 
after the loved one has gone on the receive their just reward.
    Join me for a moment in remembering all of those whose 
names are inscribed indelibly upon each one of our hearts, even 
though they may remain unspoken. May we have just a word of 
silence.
    [Moment of silence.]
    Chaplain Wilkie. It is indeed good, Father, that we can 
come and enjoy a moment of silence. Our lives are so lived with 
noise, and it seems that the onrush of sound sometimes 
obliterates. Your voice as it would speak to us in such times 
as these. But we know that voice is there, and it shrieks 
against the winds that may blow against us, and we hear that 
word of encouragement.
    How we thank You today for this great nation that You have 
given to us, this nation that was carved out of a wilderness by 
so many illustrious people across our history and by so many 
whose aims never made the history book, and yet whose labor and 
whose toil is still remembered; for the faith that enabled 
those pioneers to go ahead and to push westward and upward, 
even remembering the great dream called America and what 
America stands for.
    We do thank You for all of those, Father, who we remembered 
this morning in the memorial service for their families and for 
the leaders of this great nation.
    O Lord, we thank You for our President and for our 
Congress. Even though we may disagree sometime, yet we know 
that they are performing the duties that You have called upon 
them to perform, and we pray that You would imbue them with the 
competency for Your Divine wisdom that the decisions that they 
make will be just in the eyes of God and in the eyes of man.
    And now we thank You for this convention, for these people 
that have come to gather here to try to reason how that we can 
better serve those whom we are called to serve. We thank You 
for Your kindness and the good hand that has led us to this 
hour.
    We lift up our commanders, Commander Tom and Commander 
Barbara, as they lead us in these deliberations. Also be with 
them, Father, in such a fine and magnificent way that they'll 
be able to lead with candor, and that they'll be able to help 
us to foresee all of those things which You would have done in 
these days.
    Direct us, be near us, for we pray in Thy Great and Holy 
Name. Amen.
    Commander McMasters. Will you please be seated?
    Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in thanking the Navy 
Band of New Orleans. [Applause.] I guess I paused too long. 
They're from the Naval Support Activities under the direction 
of Chief Musician Joe Oakes. [Applause.]
    I would also like to thank the members of the Department of 
Massachusetts Color Guard for posting the Colors. [Applause.]
    And special thanks to Bob and Becky Myers for their musical 
tribute. [Applause.]
    A successful national convention hinges on the dedication 
of numerous men and women working cooperatively to make our 
annual gathering a special experience for all who attend. 
Commitment, experience, organization and limitless enthusiasm 
are the key elements to successfully planning and carrying out 
a tremendous national convention. Leading that work force is a 
monumental task.
    This year we are blessed with a national convention 
chairman whose enthusiasm is contagious, whose organization is 
on target all the way, whose commitment is second to none, and 
whose experience as national convention chairman in 1991 was 
just outstanding. That's why we welcomed the opportunity to 
have him chair the 75th National Convention of the Disabled 
American Veterans.
    A life member of Central Louisiana Chapter Number 7 and a 
DAV leader in every way, he has served as secretary of the 
Hospital and Voluntary Services Committee, chairman of the 
Constitution and Bylaws Committee and the Transportation 
Committee, chairman of the Louisiana Veterans Memorial 
Committee, commander of the DAV Department of Louisiana, 8th 
District alternate National Executive Committee member, and DAV 
Department of Louisiana judge advocate for the past three 
years.
    Please join me in welcoming a truly dedicated disabled 
American veteran, our national convention chairman, Paul 
Benoit. [Applause.]
    Mr. Paul Benoit. Thank you. Mr. Commander, Madam Commander, 
national officers of the Disabled American Veterans and the 
Auxiliary: Welcome to New Orleans, Louisiana. [Applause.] On 
behalf of Commander Bob Quattlebaum and the membership of the 
Department of Louisiana, we sincerely wish that your stay here 
will be productive, and that you will enjoy some of New Orleans 
hospitality and tradition.
    I would also like to add at this time a very sincere Cajun 
bien merci, than you, to President Bill Clinton for the giving 
of his time to come and speak to our organization and being 
here in my great state of Louisiana. [Applause.]
    First, I mentioned that we should be here to be productive 
for our great organization. You would not think that we would 
need an organization such as ours to defend and protect the 
rights of our military personnel and their families who undergo 
tragedies like the one that occurred on the 25th of June, 1996 
in Saudi Arabia. Nineteen U. S. servicemen, personnel, died, 
and 300 were injured. But we, the people here today, know how 
times go by and how some people forget.
    I also know of many members that would love to be here 
today but are unable, due to their physical disability. As we 
have done in the past and will do in the future, those of us in 
New Orleans, Louisiana will do what we have to do to aid and 
assist worthy wartime disabled veterans, their widows, their 
orphans and their dependents. After all, we are the Disabled 
American Veterans organization doing what we do best. 
[Applause.]
    The second reason you are here, hopefully, is to enjoy New 
Orleans hospitality and tradition. First, you must get the 
Cajun attitude. After the work is done, laissez les bon temps 
roullez, let the good times roll. [Applause.]
    Good times it can be, with good food, good music, riverboat 
ride, casino and French Quarter strolling.
    Another thing we like here is Mardi Gras. We can't wait to 
have Mardi Gras here, to dress in costumes, throw beads and 
enjoy life. Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday. It occurs the Tuesday 
prior to Ash Wednesday in February.
    Now, some of you might not know that Art Wilson was once a 
national service officer in New Orleans, and he enjoys Mardi 
Gras. In fact, he enjoys Mardi Gras so much that he told us we 
couldn't wait till Tuesday, so we're going to have a Mardi Gras 
party Monday night. [Applause.]
    So on Monday night, please be our guest for Mardi Gras in 
July. The band will provide all types of Louisiana music, Mardi 
Gras, blues, Cajun and swamp pop. The delegation will dress in 
costume, and we have plenty of beads for all.
    As you walk around the hotel this week, you will notice 
some of our delegation wearing a green, orange or gold mask on 
their delegate's badge. The Louisiana delegation is using this 
method to identify themselves for all our out-of-state 
visitors. Should you have any questions or concerns, look 
around for these people, and maybe we can help.
    However, don't ask us about how to win at the casino 
because we'll ask you the same thing. [Laughter.]
    One last note. My wife made me wear this tie as a reminder 
to leave some wise words with all of you. For people who can't 
see the tie, it has a large bottle of Tabasco sauce and an 
alligator. The wise word is this: Have a hot time in Louisiana, 
but beware of the gators on Bourbon Street.
    Thank you so much. [Applause.]
    [Whereupon, Senior Vice-Commander Gregory C. Reed assumed 
the chair.]
    Senior Vice-Commander Gregory C. Reed. Each year, it's the 
pleasure of the national senior vice-commander to introduce the 
national commander for the purpose of presenting his report to 
the convention. This year, it is truly my honor to introduce a 
man who embodies the finest traits of the DAV.
    After his election to national commander, he embraced the 
inspiring mission of the DAV to build better lives for all of 
our nation's disabled veterans and their families. This was the 
task of his office, and he diligently dedicated himself to that 
mission.
    Through his capable leadership, wise counsel and abundant 
compassion, the DAV has grown stronger as an organization. Yes, 
we are indeed fortunate to have a leader like National 
Commander Thomas A. McMasters III.
    A Michigan native, Tom is a combat-disabled Vietnam 
veteran. He joined the U.S. Army in 1969 and served with the 
14th Brigade's ``Golden Dragons,'' and the 10th Cavalry's 
``Buffalo Soldiers.'' Tom was wounded while serving with the 
14th Infantry Division in Vietnam. During a combat mission in 
the Central Highlands, while making his way through tall 
elephant grass, he stepped into a booby trap and was stabbed in 
the right leg by a punji stake.
    Following his discharge in 1971, Tom attended Macomb County 
Community College, graduating with a degree in marketing in 
1974. A successful entrepreneur, he operates a small business 
near Sterling Heights, Michigan.
    Tom is a life member of DAV Chapter Number 129 in Utica, 
Michigan. Since he joined the DAV in 1972, he has held nearly 
every elected office in his chapter and department, including 
department commander in 1988. On the national level, he was 
elected 3rd junior vice-commander, 1st junior vice-commander 
and senior vice-commander before being elected our national 
commander in Las Vegas, Nevada, last year.
    It has also been my pleasure to know the McMasters family. 
Tom's wife, Sandi, is a joy to know, as well as his children, 
Thomas IV, Krysten and Lauren.
    I could spend many hours recounting all that is fine and 
honorable about Tom, but time is very short today. So let me 
leave you with this: Character and quality make the DAV a great 
organization. These same traits make Tom McMasters an exemplary 
DAV national commander. He is a warm and caring human being, 
and it has been my pleasure to serve with him.
    I am honored today to ask everyone to please join me in 
welcoming a friend to all disabled veterans and their families, 
our friend, DAV National Commander Tom McMasters. [Rising 
applause.]
    Commander McMasters. Thank you, Greg, for those very kind 
words of introduction, and thank you for the support that you 
and all of the other line officers have given me over the past 
year. My thanks as well to Auxiliary Commander Barb Hicks, the 
Auxiliary's line officers, National Adjutants Art Wilson and 
Maria Tedrow, their staffs at our headquarters facilities in 
Cincinnati, Washington and across the nation. My thanks to our 
chapter and department leaders, our HSCs, and most important of 
all, our DAV and Auxiliary members and our volunteers.
    You've given me a great year, a really tremendous year, an 
incredible adventure, and I will never forget everything you've 
meant to me as we've traveled through this year together. Thank 
you. [Applause.]
    Douglas MacArthur said, ``In war, you win or lose, live or 
die, and the difference is just an eyelash.'' I'm grateful that 
I lived, I truly am. Maybe that's why I feel so strongly about 
those who died in my war, the war in Vietnam, or the wars that 
came before my time, the World Wars, Korea, or in all the 
military actions that came after my years in service, not only 
the Gulf War, but all the fire Americans have faced from Beirut 
to Bosnia.
    Often I wonder, how do I keep faith with all those brave 
men and women who served and died? What can I do as one who was 
fortunate to come home to family and friends, even if wounded 
in body and soul? The answer is always the same, the great 
spiritual truth that lies at the heart of the DAV: We best 
honor by serving the living. This is what defines the DAV.
    I happened to pick up some recruiting material from another 
veterans' organization and noticed that veterans' legislation 
was the last topic mentioned in the organization's recruiters' 
kit and the second-to-the-last thing mentioned in their 
membership recruiting brochure. I felt a little disconcerted, a 
little disappointed, but then I realized that other 
organizations are free to define their mission any way it 
wishes. They aren't required to mirror the DAV. It's obvious 
the veterans' organization whose printed material I picked up 
sees itself as a vehicle through which veterans can serve their 
community in general, and that's okay.
    However, this situation points out how much we need the DAV 
with its tightly focused mission, zeroing in on service to and 
representation of America's disabled veterans and their 
families. Our members and our volunteers are out there day 
after day helping their fellow veterans as their first 
priority. Our NSOs are representing those veterans as 
individuals before the VA as their first priority. Our 
Washington staff represents us before the government as their 
first priority.
    In this, we are different from other veterans' groups, and 
in this we excel, providing the finest service and 
representation available to disabled veterans from any source 
anywhere in America. [Applause.]
    We saw the results of DAV excellence during the past year. 
The thrill of victory will always run down my spine when I 
remember the way we absolutely crushed a congressional attempt 
to deny benefits to thousands of incompetent veterans. Not only 
that, we fended off a great deal of damage to veterans' 
programs in many other areas as well. And we may yet get a 
decent fiscal year 1997 budget for veterans out of Congress and 
across the desk of the President.
    Dave Gorman, our executive director of the Washington 
Headquarters, will cover the highlights in his report tomorrow.
    I just want to say at this juncture that I'm proud of the 
DAV. We've done some great work over the past 12 months, and 
it's been a joy to see. But we still have our problems, don't 
we? And if others don't have veterans' legislation right up 
there at the top of their agenda, we in the DAV must remain 
particularly vigilant.
    An example of why I say this came up just a couple of weeks 
ago, as we prepared to come to this convention, an example I 
still find difficult to fathom. The rumor was out, and it had 
some pretty credible sources, that a group of United States 
senators were thinking of introducing legislation based on some 
ideas that surfaced in a computer game. The game was called 
``Reinventing America,'' and it was played on the Internet.
    The folks who played the game came up with some stellar 
ideas, like legalizing drugs, killing Social Security, means 
testing Medicare. Some other ideas, much closer to home for us 
in the DAV, include abolishing the VA network of hospitals, 
privatizing the facilities where feasible and closing them 
where not feasible, means testing veterans' benefits and 
selling off the VA benefits program to the insurance industry.
    A news release on the results of this childish exercise 
boldly proclaimed that the American people were telling 
Congress how to balance the budget. The American people my 
foot! [Applause.] This was the opinion of a few yuppies, 
sipping Scotch in their up-scale suburban dens, bored with 
``Seneca Hedgehog'' and with nothing better to do than play 
with their computers. [Applause.]
    We in the DAV know how the American people feel. In a 
recent survey cited in DAV Magazine, they stated their mind 
quite clearly. Ninety-six percent say the government should 
continue providing disability and death benefits. Eighty-eight 
percent want the government to continue providing health care 
to veterans, and the only needed changes they mentioned were 
improvement in the care provided.
    Three-fourths of them say veteran's program funding should 
be increased to keep pace with inflation, and they flatly 
reject cutting those programs in order to balance the budget. 
That's how the American people feel about our nation's 
obligations to its veterans. [Applause.]
    And any legislator who wants to set public policy by 
computer games better pay attention. Our elected officials were 
sent to Washington by a nation of people who love their 
veterans, who want their veterans treated with dignity and 
respect. No congressman or senator was sent to Capitol Hill to 
walk on the men and women who fought America's wars and spit on 
the sacrifices they made. [Applause.]
    That brings me back to something I've been saying all year. 
When we're dealing with our elected officials, our role is to 
educate, educate, educate. Now, let me repeat that. When we're 

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