Page 8 - DFCS News Magazine Summer 2014

ar cle from The Press‐Enterprise, July 11, 2014,By Mark Muckenfuss
Six years of work came to fruition for Jim Champlin this week when the U.S. Senate passed a bill giving national recogni- tion to the Distinguished Flying Cross Memorial at March Field Air Museum.
Champlin, 82, a retired Air Force major, designed the memorial sculpted by Robert Henderson in Colorado. He worked with the Distinguished Flying Cross Society to help get it built and assisted in writing the legislation to grant the memorial national recognition.
That legislation, sponsored by Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, passed the House of Representatives on three occasions. The most recent version was co-sponsored by Rep. Mark Takano, D- Riversid, but the Senate had never voted on it. That finally hap- pened Wednesday, when the bill was approved unanimously. It now goes to President Barack Obama for his expected signa- ture.
“I’m so pleased,” said Champlin, a former Riverside resident and Distinguished Flying Cross recipient who now lives in Las Ve- gas. “It’s been a long road, but it’s sure worthwhile to hear that news.”
The memorial features a 2’ X 2’ bronze Distinguished Flying Cross and replicas of planes flown by Charles Lindbergh and Maj. Herbert Dargue, two of the first recipients of the medal. The planes are depicted in flight.
The memorial was erected in 2010, and national recognition was first sought in 2011. The House passed the Calvert- sponsored bill in October 2011. The Senate never took it up.
Calvert said he wanted to thank California Sens. Dianne Fein- stein and Barbara Boxer, both Democrats, for helping finally push the bill through.
“It’s hard to get anything out of the Senate these days,” Calvert said. “This is a very non-controversial bill. This is something that’s been supported. They just didn’t get around to passing it. Hap- pily, we finally got this thing done.”
Calvert said the bill adds to Riverside’s recognition as the home of several national memorials. A National POW/MIA monument and another recognizing Medal of Honor recipients are located at Riverside National Cemetery. The March Museum also has the West Coast memorial for service dogs.
“All of that makes this a place where people will want to come and see these memorials and observe the acts of those before us that served the country with distinction,” Calvert said.
Museum Director, Patricia Korzec, said the designation should bring more attention to the site. “The service dog monument”, she said, “already draws visitors.”
“Something like this adds to our stature in the community and really pays respect to people who have gone above and be- yond their service,” Korzec said.
It’s that service that Champlin says he wanted to honor with the memorial. “Many Army and Air Force pilots never received the Distinguished Flying Cross even though they might have de- served it”, he said.
“I dedicated the memorial to all the young men who dedicated themselves to aerial flight, whether they received the medal or not,” Champlin said. It recognizes “what the ordinary person does to defend our freedoms. The kind of guys that grow up and risk their lives.”
Jim Champlin (R) and Robert Henderson at dedication of DFC Memorial
Alarge number of DFCS Members have lown in Space or been ac- tive in Space Programs. The Kepler Space Institute (KSI) sponsors The Journal of Space Philosophy. The four issues since Fall 2012 are available free at:
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