At various points during its 79-year history BVA and its members have received special recognition from the executive and legislative branches of the federal government. One of the more noteworthy, 15 years ago, acknowledged the anniversary of BVA’s founding while the other occurred during one of the six national conventions held in or near the Nation’s Capital.
On April 7, 2010, President Barack Obama signed House Resolution 80 congratulating BVA on its 65th anniversary. The resolution had been drafted in the House of Representatives the previous month and passed on March 18. The resolution was also approved in the full Senate on March 26. Besides acknowledging the Association’s humble beginnings and its 65-year history, the resolution called upon all Americans to remember blinded veterans in future years.
Less known in BVA’s historical chronicles is a similar document that originates from events surrounding the Association’s 36th National Convention, August 11-15, at Stouffer’s National Center Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. In preparation for that event, then BVA National President Dr. George Stocking presented a plaque to President Ronald Reagan a month earlier following a briefing at the White House for leaders of Veterans Service Organizations. The exchange, evidenced by an official White House photo published in the August-September-October 1981 BVA Bulletin, initiated a joint Congressional resolution and a Presidential Proclamation designating August 13, 1981, as National Blinded Veterans Recognition Day.
“Our country now enjoys the blessing of peace, and it is appropriate that all Americans recognize the special debt bestowed to those who have been blinded in defense of our freedoms during the wars of this century,” the Reagan proclamation read. “We must acknowledge also the example they have provided to those blinded veterans whose equally catastrophic disability occurred after their separations from military service, and to other blinded Americans.”
That same day, buses took blinded veterans and their guests to Arlington National Cemetery, where President Stocking presented a special BVA plaque crafted by sculptor Julia Helms for display in the Memorial Room at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. President Stocking and Vice President Ellsworth “Skip” Sharpe also placed a wreath at the Tomb.
