Cold War Veterans Blog

May Cold War Times

Dear Friends and Supporters of The Cold War Museum,

The May 1, 2008 issue of the Cold War Times is now posted for viewing
online at www.coldwartimes.com. Over the past decade, the Cold War Museum
has made great strides in honoring Cold War Veterans and preserving Cold
War history. I am writing to provide you with a brief update on the
Museum's activities.

If this email was sent to you in error, you may remove your email address
or update your email address online at www.coldwartimes.com.

I would like to thank Lorton Self Storage for sponsoring this issue of
the Cold War Times. If you live in the Northern Virginia area, please
keep Lorton Self Storage in mind for your storage needs. More info online
at www.lortonselfstorage.com.

I am pleased to announce that on April 8, 2008 we submitted a proposed
draft of a lease for use of the former Lorton Nike Missile base to
Fairfax County Park Authority for their review and comment. I am grateful
to Mr. Christopher Barker from the law firm of Walsh, Colucci, Lubeley,
Emrich, & Walsh (www.thelandlawyers.com) who contributed countless hours
of in-kind work in preparing our proposed lease for submission to Fairfax
County.

As indicated in my last update it was a very difficult year for all
nonprofits seeking State support. Even though Senator Chap Petersen from
Fairfax, VA and Delegate Joe May from Leesburg, VA introduced budget
amendments in January 2008 on our behalf, as a result of the Virginia
budget crisis, the museum did not receive a non-state agency grant this
cycle.

On April 3, 2008, The Cold War Museum hosted a meeting at the Fairfax
County Economic Development Authority office with the following companies
represented: American Hungarian Federation, Bodo Aviation Museum,
EnviroSolutions, Inc, Fairfax County EDA, Fairfax County Public Schools,
Foreign Affairs Museum Council, GMU Center for History and New Media,
Google, History is a Hoot, Hungarian Technology Council, Inter Access,
Inc., L-3com, Marine Corps Aviation Association, The Phoenix Project,
Senator Webb's Office, Taiwan Badge of Honor Association, Victims of
Communism Memorial, and Vulcan Materials. A big thank you to Linda
McCarthy and Vic Dymowski who ran the meeting that was held to talk about
the museum, our progress, and resources that may be available to us
though our combined networks.

The Cold War Museum continues to work with the International Spy Museum
in Washington, DC and the Atomic Bunker in Harnekop near Berlin, Germany
to display temporarily some of its artifacts. The Cold War Museum is an
affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and has pledges of support for
artifact loans from Smithsonian Air and Space, American History, National
Portrait, and US Postal Museums. The Museum has chapters in Berlin,
Germany and Milwaukee, Wisconsin staffed by volunteers.

The mobile exhibit on the U-2 Incident, the "Spies of Washington Tour,"
and related educational activities continue to generate interest and
support. The mobile exhibit is currently on display at the ITOW Veterans
Museum
(www.itowmuseum.org) in Perham, Minnesota through October 2008. If you
know of a museum that would have an interest in the exhibit, please
contact us.

The educational Spy Tour of Washington (www.spytour.com) is now booking
group tours online.

I would also like to thank one of our volunteers, Ms. Etienne Huygens,
for all of her hard work and support on our behalf. Etienne was able to
help us to translate our most recent quarterly updates into several
languages (Italian - Serbo-Croatian - Polish - Bulgarian - Chinese) and
has also been able to help produce some additional content on our website
to fill in some of the gaps that we have in our online Cold War
historical record.

Initial planning has begun for Cold War Conversations III about the
Prague Spring of 1968 scheduled for October 11, 2008 at South County
Secondary School in Lorton, VA. The Museum is working with the Embassy of
the Czech Republic to commemorate this important anniversary and our
Berlin Chapter is working with the British Berlin Airlift Association to
commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift in May 2008. There
are a variety of sponsorship opportunities available in conjunction with
these anniversary events as well as other Cold War Museum educational
events and activities.
Please email gpowersjr@coldwar.org for additional information.

We count on financial donations to assist with the care, display, and
storage of our Cold War artifacts and to help with our day to day
operations. Tax deductible donations to The Cold War Museum can be made
through a secure online website at:

www.guidestar.org/partners/networkforgood/donate.jsp?ein=54-1819817  or
www.justgive.org/giving/donate.jsp?charityId=18894.

If you know of friends or family members that would be interested in our
efforts, share this update with them or encourage them to visit www.
coldwar.org. Please help spread the word about the Museum. Together we
can make this vision a reality.

Thank you for your continued support.

For more information, please contact:

Francis Gary Powers, Jr.
Founder
The Cold War Museum
P.O. Box 178
Fairfax, VA 22038
703-273-2381 Museum
703-273-4903 Museum Fax