Category Archives: Clarence Kailin Chapter 25

Stop Recruiting Our Kids

The counter recruiting display used at Southwestern Wisconsin high schools this fall, 2018. On October 23, Veterans For Peace Chapter 25 member David Giffey spent lunch hours at Richland Center High School speaking with students and staff about the costs of war.

Literature on the table at left describes alternatives to the military including apprenticeship programs offered by building trade unions. Other high schools visited this fall include River Valley, Spring Green; Boscobel; Baraboo; Dodgeville; and Riverdale, Muscoda.
—Photo by David Giffey

for more on counter-recruitment…
Stop Recruiting Our Kids Campaign Website

Highground Education Days at The Highground Veterans Memorial Park with Special Presentations on The Dove Mound by Chapter 25 Founding Member David Giffey

Veterans For Peace Chapter 25 member David Giffey met approximately 300 Central Wisconsin public and private school student at The Highground Veterans Memorial Park near Neillsville, Clark County, on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 2 and 3, during Highground Education Days. The children receive tours of the Highground site during Education Days. Giffey designed the Mourning Dove Effigy Mound, seen in background, and supervised its construction in 1989. This photo shows a table with information used during the tours. A brief history of Native American effigy mounds and stories about the ceremonial pipe, on red cloth on table, were shared by Giffey with the students.
Middle school students from St. Mary’s, Amherst, are pictured near the Mourning Dove Effigy Mound at the Highground. The student at front right is shown holding David Giffey’s original drawing of the mourning dove effigy mound which he designed in 1986.

Fifth grade students from the Clark County cities of Colby and Loyal are pictured standing atop the Mourning Dove Effigy Mound during Education Days at The Highground Veterans’ Park near Neillsville.

From left, Carla, Allison and Lily, are shown after they scattered soil they brought to the Mourning Dove Effigy Mound from their homes in the City of Colby when they visited the Highground during Education days.
Amherst public school 5th grade students rest on the Mourning Dove Effigy Mound during Education Days at The Highground. Their teacher, Ms. Lutz, and a chaperone are pictured in middle row at left.
A class from the villages of Merrillan, Alma Center and Humbird rested October 3 on the Mourning Dove Effigy Mound as they toured the Highground in Clark County.
(Photos by David Giffey)

30th Anniversary of Highground Veterans Memorial Park

Saturday will mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Highground Veterans Memorial Park at Neillsville.

The anniversary will be marked with all day activities:

30th Anniversary Celebration of The Highground Veterans Memorial Park

The Highground Veterans Memorial Park near Neillsville was dedicated in 1988. A celebration commemorating its 30th year will be held Saturday.

Admission is free and parking will be available at the Clark County Fairgrounds in Neillsville along with free shuttle bus service to The Highground.

Here is the schedule of the day’s events:

Noon: A veterans’ yellow ribbon motorcade through Neillsville and ending at The Highground just west of the city.

1:30 p.m.: An UH-1H Huey helicopter will land at the park.

1:45 p.m.: A Missing Man Table Ceremony that honors prisoners of war and those missing in action with each item at and around the dining table having specific meaning.

2 p.m.: Main ceremony that will include keynote speaker Dick Leinenkugel, a senior White House adviser for the Department of Veterans Affairs, a former U.S. Marine and one time president of the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. in Chippewa Falls.

4-8p.m.: Chicken dinner and music

8:15 p.m.: Fireworks

More information can be found at www.thehighground.us or by calling 715-743-4224.

An important component of the mission to further peace education has always been the Dove Mound, created heart and soul by David Giffey, a founding member of Chapter 25 Veterans for Peace.

The story of the Dove Mound creation will follow in a separate post.