2011.09.26: September 26, 2011: At Arlington National Cemetery, Peace Corps Celebrates 50 Years of Service
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2011.09.26: September 26, 2011: At Arlington National Cemetery, Peace Corps Celebrates 50 Years of Service
At Arlington National Cemetery, Peace Corps Celebrates 50 Years of Service
Thousands of volunteers, their friends and their families celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps on Sunday on the grounds that serve as the final resting place of the man who brought the service organization to life. Many wore traditional garb from Africa, South America or Asia, souvenirs from their time serving as Peace Corps volunteers around the world. The ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery's Memorial Amphitheater drew close to 5,000 people. Sunday's ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery was designed to celebrate 50 years since President John F. Kennedy signed the Peace Corps into existence by executive order -- and to honor the 280 volunteers who died while serving. "Some wonder whether the Peace Corps can be effective in a changing world," said former Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, who volunteered in the Dominican Republic from 1966 to 1968. "It must change to keep pace." As more people worldwide live in urban areas than ever before, Dodd said, the organization needs to think more about things like health care and urban planning. Speakers also called on more skilled volunteers, including return volunteers who have spent their careers accumulating knowledge and skills that could be used in the corps. "I call them the retired but not tired," said Liberian Vice President Joseph Boakai.
At Arlington National Cemetery, Peace Corps Celebrates 50 Years of Service
At Arlington National Cemetery, Peace Corps Celebrates 50 Years of Service
Volunteers from across the country commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps on Sunday -- and looked toward the organization's future.
By Holly Nunn
Thousands of volunteers, their friends and their families celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps on Sunday on the grounds that serve as the final resting place of the man who brought the service organization to life.
Many wore traditional garb from Africa, South America or Asia, souvenirs from their time serving as Peace Corps volunteers around the world. The ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery's Memorial Amphitheater drew close to 5,000 people.
Eileen Smith of Bowie, Md., wore a scarf from Swaziland, where she served from 1983 to 1985 in an agricultural program. Smith said the two years she spent there, during apartheid in neighboring South Africa and a time of political change in Swaziland, shaped the rest of her life.
"It changed my whole outlook," she said. "You grow up fast."
Melissa Horton of Lancaster, Ohio, served with Smith in Swaziland and turned her experience into a love of travel.
"We know how find bathrooms in any language," Horton said.
Sunday's ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery was designed to celebrate 50 years since President John F. Kennedy signed the Peace Corps into existence by executive order -- and to honor the 280 volunteers who died while serving.
Al Guskin was there when Kennedy, then a U.S. senator and presidential candidate, delivered an impromptu speech at the University of Michigan in October 1960 and challenged students to give two years of service. Guskin called the beginning of the corps a "spontaneous combustion."
In a matter of days, about 1,000 University of Michigan students responded with a pledge to serve. Within months of the agency's creation on March 1, 1961, the number of people who had applied to join reached 11,000.
Since then, the corps has sent more than 200,000 people to 139 countries. Volunteers carried flags from each of those countries over Memorial Bridge following Sunday's ceremony.
While reflecting on the past, though, the the ceremony also touched on the uncertain future for the agency.
"Some wonder whether the Peace Corps can be effective in a changing world," said former Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, who volunteered in the Dominican Republic from 1966 to 1968. "It must change to keep pace."
As more people worldwide live in urban areas than ever before, Dodd said, the organization needs to think more about things like health care and urban planning.
Speakers also called on more skilled volunteers, including return volunteers who have spent their careers accumulating knowledge and skills that could be used in the corps.
"I call them the retired but not tired," said Liberian Vice President Joseph Boakai.
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Headlines: September, 2011; 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps; Fallen
When this story was posted in October 2011, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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| Peace Corps Featured at Smithsonian Take a look at our photo essay of Peace Corps' featured program at the 2011 Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington DC to see how the festival showcased the work of Peace Corps volunteers in economic development and income generation; ways volunteers have helped support local groups to help educate communities; and food and cooking traditions that have played a role in the Peace Corps experience. New: Enjoy photos from the second week of the exposition. |
| Peace Corps: The Next Fifty Years As we move into the Peace Corps' second fifty years, what single improvement would most benefit the mission of the Peace Corps? Read our op-ed about the creation of a private charitable non-profit corporation, independent of the US government, whose focus would be to provide support and funding for third goal activities. Returned Volunteers need President Obama to support the enabling legislation, already written and vetted, to create the Peace Corps Foundation. RPCVs will do the rest. |
| How Volunteers Remember Sarge As the Peace Corps' Founding Director Sargent Shriver laid the foundations for the most lasting accomplishment of the Kennedy presidency. Shriver spoke to returned volunteers at the Peace Vigil at Lincoln Memorial in September, 2001 for the Peace Corps 40th. "The challenge I believe is simple - simple to express but difficult to fulfill. That challenge is expressed in these words: PCV's - stay as you are. Be servants of peace. Work at home as you have worked abroad. Humbly, persistently, intelligently. Weep with those who are sorrowful, Care for those who are sick. Serve your wives, serve your husbands, serve your families, serve your neighbors, serve your cities, serve the poor, join others who also serve," said Shriver. "Serve, Serve, Serve. That's the answer, that's the objective, that's the challenge." |
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