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KWVAFirstAmendment.Org

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Those who are apathetic about what is happening in the Korean War Veterans Association at the national level with regards to members being investigated and expelled for criticizing the current administration should take heed of the words of a man who lived under a repressive regime of control in Nazi Germany:

"First they came after the workers, but I wasn't a worker so I didn't object. Then they came after the Jews, but I wasn't a Jew so I didn't object. Then they came after the Catholics, but I wasn't a Catholic so I didn't object. Then they came after me, and there was no one left to object." - Bishop Martin Niemoeller, anti-Nazi theologian, 1945

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees the citizens of the United States the absolute right of freedom of speech regarding their right to seek, receive, and disseminate information.

Certain national leaders within the Louis Dechert Administration of the Korean War Veterans Association (KWVA) have used intimidation by investigation, expulsion and threat of expulsion, and vulgar and abusive language against several KWVA members who oppose the Dechert Administration. When those leaders did that, they threatened the constitution-guaranteed right of members and friends of the organization to express their opinions.

This website was created on October 9, 2007 to post discussions about the negative experiences that individuals have had or are currently having with the KWVA.

KWVAFirstAmendment.org examines negative perceptions of the KWVA leaders held by members, associate members and the general public—and tries to explain why those perceptions are negative. This website also voices personal opinions about how those same KWVA leaders conduct the organization’s business.

KWVAFirstAmendment.org encourages the expression of personal opinions and the sharing of ideas. We hope that the national leaders of the KWVA will analyze the opinions expressed on this website and use their findings to improve leader/member/public relations.

New - January 18, 2008

In the November-December 2007 issue of the Korean War Veterans Association's national magazine, The Graybeards, Louis Dechert referred to KWVAFirstAmendment.Org as an illegal website "established for the purpose of committing travesties against the Korean War Veterans Association." That statement is false. Also false is the accusation that anti-Dechert members are "filled with hate" and that their goal is to "destroy--not enhance--the KWVA."

The founder of this website and those who contribute to it are not "subversives," as stated in the magazine. Nor do they "claim to speak for the entire organization." They speak for themselves, albeit they often times speak on behalf of others. But never have they made the claim to speak for the entire organization.

Members with an anti-Dechert stance are members and associate members of the Korean War Veterans Association who are intensely worried about the direction that the leadership of the organization has taken under the guidance of Lou Dechert. They are people who are not afraid to speak their concerns outloud. These decent and honorable members and associate members felt they needed to publicly express their concerns through the forum of a medium not controlled by the Dechert Administration.

Lou Dechert called these concerned members a "cancer" and stated that they should be "silenced." He called their behavior "disruptive" and "unacceptable."

The question is, how are they to be silenced? Will kicking them out of the Korean War Veterans Association silence them? Will suing them for voicing their concerns silence them? Will filling the pages of The Graybeards with vile propaganda against them silence them? Will placing them on probation with a gag order silence them? Or did Mr. Dechert have something more physical in mind--i.e., silencing members with the use of rifles, K-bars, detonators, or other devices that can cause bodily harm to anyone who speaks out against the Dechert Administration?

Lou Dechert made a very public request on page 3 of Volume 21, No. 6 for the members of the Korean War Veterans Association to "step up to the task of silencing these few people." Who now will do Dechert's dirty work for him and silence his outspoken critics? What weapon will they use to stifle them, muzzle them, shut them up? How far will Dechert's followers be willing to go to carry out their leader's mandate to "silence" those who think and say that, in their opinion, Louis Dechert has, indeed, been a very poor leader of freedom-loving veterans.

KWVAFirstAmendment.org is not sanctioned by the KWVA and it is not affiliated in any way with that organization.

In recent months, a number of KWVA members and associate members who exercised their First Amendment right of freedom of speech to express their personal opinions about the Louis Dechert Administration were investigated by a Dechert-appointed committee called the “Ethics and Grievance” Committee.

Those investigated were subsequently brought up on "for cause" or "for just cause" charges, reprimanded, placed on probation, and/or expelled from the organization.

It is the opinion of many of those who have been subjected to these punishments that the situation is unacceptable, un-American, a violation of the United States Constitution, and an insult to living and deceased Korean War veterans.