Department of Arizona
Leadership News
April 26, 2006
DAV Department of Arizona Adjutant & CEO
Carl Forkner Honored in Imprints of Honor - 2006
On April 26th, Department Adjutant & CEO Carl Forkner was honored as a part of the 2026 Imprints of Honor, Volume I in a ceremony and book signing in Scottsdale, AZ. The program honors Veterans by interviewing them by high school students interviewing them and writing a chapter of the annual commemorative book to tell their story. Veterans are nominated for this recognition, which is designed to be an enduring record of their careers--both in the service and afterwards in the community. The students are selected for the project--formerly known as the Veterans History Project--and work with [teacher] advisors at their school to arrange, conduct, write, edit, and prepare the chapters for publication.
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The venue was arranged chronologically around the outside edges of the San Francisco Giants training facility. This year's event was special, as it included a number of World War II and Korean War Veterans. However, the dominant number of Veterans being honored this year were our Vietnam Veterans--and wow, do they have stories to tell (some not suitable for anyone other than fellow Veterans...lol). It was good to see them being honored after all they endured during and after their service! The keynote discussion was held with Vietnam Veteran Francisco Moreno, a helicopter pilot who flew missions led by Medal of Honor recipient Bruce Crandall.
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Following the Vietnam Veterans were Cold War Veterans, Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and the Global War on Terrorism. Dr. Forkner missed Vietnam by literally three weeks (whew) and later served during the Cold War and Global War on Terrorism, including the 1986 operations against Libya, the start of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, and Operation Noble Eagle, providing air cover for National Security Special Events in the United States.
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​Following the keynote discussion, awards and scholarships were presented to very deserving contributors and students who have bright futures ahead of them, The final 90 minutes of the event was an opportunity for students to meet the other Imprints of Honor Veterans, as well as those who purchased this year's commemorative book (nearly 500 pages, coffee table size, and was only being sold for $25 so that people would buy them and share the stories).
The Imprints of Honor mission started in 2004 as the Veterans History Project (which it still called at the Library of Congress, which will receive a number of the books) and has had 3,572 student authors who have interviewed 3,444 Veterans from various periods of our military history:
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World War I: 5 Cold War: 628
World War II: 741 Gulf War &
Korean War: 361 War on Terror: 1,036
Vietnam War: 1,207 Civilians &
Gold Star Families: 68
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