Club's American Legion Post 20 observes D-Day

The National Press Club's American Legion Post 20 marked D-Day with a special tribute to long-time Club and Post member John Metelsky and a report on the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial targeted for opening on D-Day 2019.

Club President Thomas Burr greeted guest speakers and congratulated the Post 20 on being selected the "Outstanding Post" in the District of Columbia for 2015-2016 at the annual convention of the D.C. Department of the American Legion June 3 and June 4 at Bolling Air Force Base.

Metelsky, whose photographs of Club events are displayed throughout the Club, was a 17-year-old U.S. Merchant Marine on a Norwegian tanker delivering high-octane aviation fuel in London on June 6, 1944, the day Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, launched the Normandy landings and began the liberation of France from German occupation. Metelsky served on numerous merchant ships during and after WWII and was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War.

Post 20 presented Metelsky with a Merchant Marine flag and the Post received another Merchant Marine flag from Michael Rodriguez, deputy administrator of the U.S. Marine Administration. The Club now has use of flags representing all of the services donated by members of Post 20. They are on display on the landing of the Club's stairway to the 14th floor.

Metelsky, who was joined by his wife Sonia, son Johnny and daughter Sundance, recalled feeling the rumble of U.S. Navy depth charges as they circled Atlantic and Mediterranean convoys battling German U-Boats and occasional celebrations when a sub was sunk. The U.S. Merchant Marine suffered the highest loses proportionally of all the services in WWII...nearly 4 per cent of the over 200,000 who served, twice the overall rate for U.S. killed-in-action. Metelsky, who lacked a high school diploma when he entered the Merchant Marine, credited the U.S. Army for helping him get an education, including a masters degree in communications from American University. His civilian career included writing assignments around the world for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Carl Reddel, executive director of the Eisenhower Memorial Foundation, said one legacy of "Ike" is that he is "evidence that the great American experience works." He rose from humble beginnings in rural Kansas to become the nation's 34th President after successfully developing and implementing an incredibly complex plan for the liberation of Western Europe under orders with little specificity beyond the defeat of Hitler's Germany. Reddel said Eisenhower went on to become the nation's "most international President" and an unheralded pioneer in the use of television and advertising during his presidency.

Foundation Deputy Executive Director Victoria Tigwell said the memorial, which is to be built on four acres across Maryland Avenue from the Air and Space Museum, will open on D-Day 2019 if all goes well. Former Sen. Robert Dole, R-Kans., is leading a bipartisan effort that has raised more than $16 million toward the memorial's estimated $125 million cost. She said the project is being held back by the failure of Congress to appropriate $80 million, with one holdup being opposition from members of Eisenhower's family to the memorial's design by architect Frank Gehry. It can be viewed at here. Tigwell said virtually all memorials are controversial and cited as examples opposition to the now-popular Vietnam War Memorial and memorial for President Franklin D. Roosevelt.