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Grateful Giving
Service in the National Guard comes with a variety of demands, but it also provides opportunities for personal growth often not fully appreciated until later in life.
Just ask retired 1st Sgt. Moe Gomez.
Gomez grew up “dirt poor” in rural New Mexico, he said last month. Many of his early contemporaries “turned to drugs, are in jail or dead.” Meanwhile, he has a good job, a wife, two grown daughters and four grandsons. “I couldn’t ask for a better life,” he explained.
What separates him from many he grew up with is the path he took, he added. At 19, he enlisted in the Army. After three years, he came home and joined the New Mexico Army Guard, the first in his family to do so, where he served another 21 years in uniform.
“The National Guard has been an unwavering source of positive influence throughout my life,” Gomez said. “Its presence has shaped my values, outlook and decisions, especially during the challenging times.”
Years later, he still uses every day what he learned in the Guard. “Having a structured and strategic approach helps in all situations both personal and professional,” he shared.
Gomez proudly added that others in his family have followed his lead. He has a son-in-law currently deployed in Africa with the New Mexico Army Guard. He also has a cousin and a nephew thinking about joining. And he hopes at least one of his grandsons serves.
The retired New Mexico Army Guardsman recently discovered the National Guard Educational Foundation, which preserves and shares all 389 years of the Guard story. “Donating just seemed like the right thing to do,” he said.
Donating just seemed like the right thing to do.
—Retired New Mexico Army National Guard 1st Sgt. Moe Gomez, a new Legion de Lafayette member
He was one of 20 new major donors the NGEF recognized during a reception Nov. 15 at the National Guard Memorial, the NGAUS headquarters in Washington, D.C. They contributed a combined $240,000 through the Legion de Lafayette program, which is reserved for gifts of at least $10,000.
The LdL is the foundation’s leading revenue source. It helps fund efforts like the National Guard Memorial Museum. The NGEF also administers two scholarship programs.
Nine individuals, 10 corporations and NGAUS were the benefactors recognized. Many of the individual donors, like Gomez, said they were giving back for the opportunities the Guard provided. Retired Alabama Army Guard Brig. Gen. Wendell McLain was among them.
“When I came off active duty, something was missing in my life,” McLain recalled. “After visiting a Guard unit with a friend, I knew it was for me. My wife, Judi, supported me in the Guard during drills, annual training and deployments. As my children grew up, the National Guard was part of their lives, too.”
Individual donors recognized also included retired Col. Robert Chin, retired Brig. Gen. Dave Fleming III, retired Col. Ed Gruetzemacher, retired Maj. Gen. Patrick Hamilton, retired Brig. Gen. Mike and Jo Oster, retired Maj. J. Stephen Riley, and retired Brig. Gen. Bob Taylor.
Fleming, Riley and Taylor were recognized for making additional LdL-level contributions. The other six honorees were making their first donation.
Two of the corporate donors honored — ADS and Shepard Audio Visual — were also first-time major contributors. Armed Forces Benefit Association, Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, AM General, BAE Systems, Military Benefit Association, SPARGO, Textron and USAA were all adding to earlier gifts.
Those honored received a replica of an 1832 medal the New York militia presented to Marquis de Lafayette, after whom the LdL program is named. A French aristocrat who served in both the American and French revolutions, he played a major role in the development of the state militias, which are now collectively known as the National Guard.
Lafayette commanded the famous Garde Nationale de Paris in France. During his visit to New York in 1824, the militia unit that provided his honor guard called itself the National Guard out of respect for his French unit. The designation stuck, growing in popularity until it became the official name of the loose nationwide organization of militias in the early 20th century.
PHOTO ABOVE
(Photo by Paul Gillis)
Top Back Row (from left) Maj. Gen. Walter Rugen (Ret.), Vice President, Government Affairs for National Security, Textron; Maj. Gen. Patrick Hamilton (Ret.), Texas Army National Guard; Maj. J. Stephen Riley (Ret.), Washington Army National Guard; Steve Burns, Director, Washington Operations, Airbus U.S. Space & Defense
Third Row (from left) Russell Thompson, Business Development Manager, ADS Inc.; James Spargo, Senior Vice President, SPARGO Inc.; Col. Ed Gruetzemacher (Ret.), Missouri Army National Guard; Brig. Gen. Robert Taylor (Ret.), Former Chairman, NGAUS & NGEF; Tom Hamilton; Brig. Gen. Mike Oster (Ret.), Member, NGAUS Board of Directors; Fred Streb, Treasurer, Military Benefit Association
Second Row (from left) Brig. Gen. Dave Fleming III (Ret.), Delaware Army National Guard; John Chadbourne, Executive Vice President & Chief Business Development Officer, AM General; Robert Warren, Military Affinity Development & Management, USAA; 1st Sgt. Moe Gomez (Ret.), New Mexico Army National Guard; Mary McKinnon, National Sales Manager, Shepard Audio Visual; Jo Oster; Kimo Wong, Chief Distribution Officer and Senior Vice President, Armed Forces Benefit Association
Front Row (from left) Col. Robert Chin (Ret.), District of Columbia Air National Guard; Heidi Bunker, Military Affairs Representative, USAA; Brig. Gen. Keith Klemmer (Ret.), Business Development Director, BAE Systems; Maj. Gen. Paul Rogers, Chairman, NGAUS & NGEF; Lakeshia Williams, NGAUS; Judi McLain; Brig. Gen. Wendell McLain (Ret.), Alabama Army National Guard
The names of those recognized have been stenciled on the new donor recognition wall outside the G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Room in the NGAUS headquarters. The Montgomery Room is where the association’s board of directors meets.
LdL growth in recent years nearly filled the old wall. The program has raised more than $5 million over the last decade and membership now includes more than 500 individuals, corporations and organizations, according to Luke Guthrie, the NGEF director.
Installed in October, the replacement has ample room for more donors. Most of the individual contributors are listed under their state or territory. There are separate entries for National Guard Bureau chiefs and NGAUS chairmen.
The G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Foundation provided a grant to the NGEF for the new wall. Montgomery, who spent 30 years (1967-1997) in Congress, established the GVMF in his will to further some of his life’s interests, among them was helping service members attend college. His Montgomery GI Bill in 1994 was the first federal program to provide educational benefits to Guardsmen.
Based in Meridian, Mississippi, his hometown, the foundation has provided “several millions in scholarships” over nearly 20 years, according to Brad Crawford, the president and executive director. Many of the recipients have been military students at Mississippi State University, the late congressman’s alma mater.
Montgomery’s Guard advocacy in Congress went beyond education programs. He was known as Mr. National Guard on Capitol Hill for his all-around support. His love of the force was a product of his own service. A full-length painting of him in his Mississippi Army Guard two-star dress uniform hangs in the Montgomery Room on the immediate other side of the donor wall.
“It just made sense for his name to be on both sides of the wall,” Crawford said.
Book talks, scholarships, an addition to the National Guard Memorial Museum and more YouTube videos highlighted NGEF activities over the last year.
The foundation hosted two authors of books featuring significant contributions during World War II. One was Alex Kershaw, who wrote The Liberator: One World War II Soldier’s 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau. The book chronicles the heroic service of Colorado Guardsman Felix Sparks.
A second talk featured Jody Reed, the author of From Bataan to Freedom: The World War II Odyssey of Errett Louis Lujan Through the Death March and Five Japanese POW Camps. Reed is the daughter of Lujan, a New Mexico Guardsman.
The NGEF also awarded 13 scholarships. Eight went to the children of Guardsmen killed in the Global War on Terror through the USAA Guardian Scholarship Fund. The other five went to Guardsmen wounded in the conflict from the Van Hipp Scholarship Fund.
The addition to the museum is the uniform worn by then-Capt. Katie Lunning while helping evacuate 22 people wounded by a suicide bomber Aug. 26, 2021, at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan. She walked alongside the Taliban to perform her duties. A member of the Minnesota Air Guard’s 133rd Medical Group, Lunning received the Distinguished Flying Cross for her actions.
And foundation staff produced and posted 12 Minuteman Minute videos, including some filmed outside the museum for the first time. One was the start of a “season” of 13 videos featuring the contributions of each of the original colonies to the American Revolution. The other 12 will be released in 2026, the year the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Other activities planned for next year include book talks and an update of the museum’s World War II Gallery with new stories and artifacts featuring the stories of Guard units not currently included in the exhibit.
John Goheen is the NGAUS director of communications. He can be reached at [email protected].
