Marilyn Grote: This is a really different for me this month.  I usually am the one who asks the questions and this time I am on the other side having to answer the questions.  Now I will see which is the hardest to do- but already I think the question answering will prove the toughest.

I was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio.  I am married with three children, all grown now, and 4 grandchildren.  I moved to York, Pennsylvania for 6 years and then moved back to Ohio.

I live in Piqua, Ohio, (north of Dayton) a farming town and although I don't farm I live surrounded by fields of growing corn and soybeans.

I teach Bible Study every week; I love animals - especially German Shepherd dogs. I enjoy training dogs and showing them and hope to get back into it when I have more time. I like to crochet and read and my favorite toy is the computer. This is my time of the year because I am an avid Cincinnati Reds fan and have been since I was in grade school. And by the way, Ken Griffey, Jr. has come back home – he is a member of the Cincinnati Reds if you haven't heard by now.

Moonduster Chronicle:  How did you find OJC?

Marilyn Grote: Years ago I visited the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington D.C. and it made a lasting impression on me. While at the Wall I talked to the Vietnam Veterans and was told that the POW/MIA(s) did not come back home.  I had believed the Government when they said that they all come back home and I have to admit that I was shocked and very upset to find, that along with a country full of other people, I had been lied to over and over.  I left D.C. knowing there was something that should be done about the POW/MIA situation but not sure what I could do.

Two years ago I went to Greenville, Ohio to see the Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall with my family.  This time I knew I could not walk away and do nothing but again not sure what I should or could do.

Having a computer and being on the Internet I started searching for POW/MIA information and trying to find some way to help the POW/MIA(s).  Operation Just Cause was one of the web sites that came up in the search along with many other sites.  I was overwhelmed with information.  I was not sure how to start or what to do with it all.

MC: Your son, Jeff, is also on the Adoption Team.  Did you tell him about OJC or did he introduce you to us?

MG: Now the rest of the story --When we came back from Greenville, Jeff wanted to get a POW/MIA bracelet because I had worn one since my trip to D.C. He started to search the Internet to see if he could find somewhere to get a bracelet and I started a search for information about POW/MIA(s). Jeff found OJC and adopted his first POW/MIA and sent me the URL. I recognized the URL from the list that I had found so I went immediately to the OJC site. I was very impressed with the site, the context that was there and I read it all from start to finish including going to the links.

MC: Did you adopt right away?

MG: During my first visit to the OJC site I adopted my first POW/MIA.  I was very interested in finding out what I could do to bring all the POW/MIA(s) back home and I finally had a starting point.  I began sending out letters and getting back the form letters but I kept sending them out.  I made phone calls to the offices of my Senators and Representatives and got some replies – even received a book sent to me explaining why there was no POW/MIA(s) left in Vietnam.  Jeff and I put up my POW/MIA web site. I knew what I was doing was important but I wanted to do more.

MC: What made you decide to get more involved?

I became involved with OJC because of being a mother. I feel great compassion for the families of the POW/MIA(s).  I could not imagine how I would deal with not knowing what happened to one of my sons. The fact that the POW/MIA(s) did what they were called to do and then abandoned in a country so far away was very upsetting to me.

I wrote to OJC and said I wanted to do whatever I could to help, my offer was accepted and I was put on the Adoption Team.  Jeff started on the team two weeks after I did and we both have remained on the team for over 2 years.  Jeff is also very involved and is now Assistant Team Leader for the Adoption Team.

MC: You started out as a team member on our Adoption Team. What was it like getting started?

MG: Starting on the Adoption Team was not an easy thing for me.  I am not very knowledgeable about the Vietnam War and 100% militarily ignorant.  I knew there were four branches of service and that was about all I knew.  Therefore if I got an adoption to fill for a special unit or job I was lost because I did not understand military terms or language.  I met Gene Milner very soon after getting on the team and I don’t know what I would have done without him.  He was the one I turned to for help and that he gave me every time I asked him.  We got to be friends; he made me laugh and truly made my first few months on the adoption team work out for me.
 

MC: Can you give us an example of a common adoption request and the steps taken to complete it?

MG: A common adoption is one that comes in asking for a specific branch of service and a particular state they wish to adopt from. Gene has made, for the adoption team, an accurate and complete database that has became our adoption team bible. (The database is named Sally, which I have not ever understood). By going to the database and finding the state and branch of service it usually gives you a few POW/MIA names to choose from.  We put the OJC Welcome Letter on the adoption along with the bio/incident information for the POW/MIA and it is sent out.  The adoptions that take the most time are the ones that want a specific job, title or unit.  When these adoptions push me to the end of my knowledge (which happens quickly) they are sent to Gene for research.  He does an outstanding job digging out the information requested.
 

MC: What has been the most complex adoption request you have had so far?  (Readers: This is not an invitation to see if you can come up with something more challenging.)

MG: Truly we don't need more challenging adoption requests. I think the most complex adoption I ever did was for Rolling Thunder.  I would get a list of 25 first names and they were numbered as - James 1, Mary 2, Sam 2 etc.  I had to send out individual adoptions to each name to one email address.  I believe in the end I sent out close to 125 adoptions this way for them.  It was a hard group of adoptions to get ready because we were pushed for time but I got to know the people from Rolling Thunder and was very impressed with their dedication to the POW/MIA(s) and their return.

The best adoptions I get are the ones with notes from the sender.  Many times they are from Vietnam Vets and I have made many good friends because of being on the Adoption Team. I have visited many unique and terrific web sites put up for the POW/MIA(s).  The web sites allow me to see what is done with some of the adoptions I send out and I know we are making a difference.

MC: Now that Gene has stepped back for a while and you hold the position of Team Leader, what has changed?  (Is there a lot more work involved?

MG:  I have to say that Gene was the best Adoption Team Leader there could ever be and he left big shoes to fill.  When Gene went on leave of absence last April I started doing the work involved with being Acting Team Leader so officially becoming Team Leader was a title change for me. The Team Leader's job does involve some extra work but it is a great job, one that I enjoy doing and I feel the Adoption Team performs an important part of the work OJC accomplishes so it is worth all the work involved.

MC: How did it impact your relationship with other members of the team?

MG: The Adoption Team is a group of people that are the most dedicated, nicest and best people anyone could find anywhere.  Most of them have worked with me since before I took the job as Acting Team Leader and were always there to help in any way that they could.  I did not see a change in our relationship.  What I did see was an outstanding effort from every team member to help out in any way that they could.  I got to know every one a little better and appreciate each one a whole lot more. Although I am Team Leader I am just a part of the team.  With the caliber of the individuals we have on the team they don't need to be lead.  Every team member is great at what they do, very dedicated and I have a world of respect for each one of them.  The Adoption Team sending out adoptions is a real team effort and because of that the adoptions get finished and sent out as quickly and accurately as possible, every day, 365 days a year.

Dennis is not part of the adoption team but if I had a boss in the true sense of the word, it would be Dennis so I want to include him in this section of the interview.  Without Dennis we would be up the creek without paddles or a boat. Dennis is a very special person, is as hard working as any one I know but also the kindest and nicest person that I have ever met.  Working with or under Dennis’ leadership is a complete joy for me.  I cannot put into words or find enough words to say how much I admire, respect and value him. I would be lost without Dennis and have depended on him over and over and he has never let me down.  Dennis and I have become friends, he is my adopted brother and I think the world of him. Dennis is truly worth his weight in gold and OJC is very fortunate to have him involved and doing everything he does so very well.

MC: Fulfilling adoption requests can be repetitious and you keep getting immersed in incident reports, which can be a very emotional thing.  How do you handle it?  What keeps you going?

MG: When I first got on the Adoption Team I found sending out adoptions to be very depressing.  Very quickly the POW/MIA(s) became real people (to me) and reading the incident reports made me sad, angry and left me feeling very upset.

Being a Christian I started praying for every POW/MIA that I sent out for an adoption.  I realized that these men and women were children of God and He was more concerned then I was about what had and is still happening to them.  And to this day I pray over the POW/MIA(s) I send out and ask God for the answers we need so much.

I am a very emotional person.  My kids always tease me telling me that I cry when I take out the garbage so the emotional part was hard.  By praying for the POW/MIA(s) and their families I feel I am doing the best thing I could do for them and that makes it easier to deal with.

Emotional, yes, frustrating, yes, and even though I find the information upsetting it makes me want to bring all the POW/MIA(s) back home even more. By becoming immersed in the POW/MIA issue I want to do more to get the job finished and I cannot see myself giving up and not working to bring them all home until this is finished.  OJC's motto “For as long as it takes” has become my motto and I will be here doing whatever I can for as long as it takes.
 

MC: What made you decide to take on the Volunteer of the Month and POW/MIA of the Month articles?

MG: I came up with the idea for the Volunteer of the Month column because truthfully I did not know many people at OJC and have heard so many wonderful things about everyone that I thought maybe featuring one Volunteer a month would give everyone a chance to get to know every one else.

We started in October with the first Volunteer of the Month being Gunny.  He had the job of dealing with an interview from someone who did not know what she was doing. Gunny must have the patience of a saint because he did hang in there with me and did a terrific job for the first column.  We followed with Steve, Dennis, Karl, Kimmie and Barb.  Every Volunteer did an outstanding job, was very easy to work with and although I knew the leadership at OJC was outstanding, working with them and getting to know them was the icing on the cake for me.

The POW/MIA of the Month idea came from Dennis and I jumped at the chance to write it.  This is the hard column to write, the Volunteer of the Month column is the fun one to do.

The POW/MIA of the Month is an emotional column to write every month.  It is harder and usually takes more time and effort because of the emotions dealing with the family and the loss of a person they love very much.

I enjoy being on the Moonduster staff because I get to know the OJC Volunteers and the families of the POW/MIA(s).  I could not hope for anything better to do.  Barb is an outstanding editor, easy to work with and has given me the freedom to do the columns, as I want to do them.  Having the articles in the Moonduster Chronicle is putting them in the best newsletter I have ever seen or read and that, to me, is an honor.

MC: What is it like interviewing a family member of someone who is still missing after all these years?

MG: I have not learned to write the column and not feel the emotions, the pain, the frustration and the love from the family that comes out when the person they love is talked about – and I don't ever want it to be any different.  I truly admire these family members who day after day fight the battle to bring home their family member.  I have cried editing the column and it is the hardest one to submit for the Newsletter.  I reread the column over and over because I want to make the person reading the column see the POW/MIA as a person, a part of a family. I want them to realize the pain the family members have to live with because of the POW/MIA not being brought home.  I believe when people realize that the word POW/MIA is really a word containing over 2,000 individual people, who have families who love them and want them returned home, and then they will do something to help.  The families of the POW/MIA(s) have been outstanding in their cooperation and writing about their feelings for the column.  I have grown very fond of them and there is not a day that goes by that they are not in my prayers.

MC: You also have other things going on the Internet.  Will you tell us about Grace 2000 and Prayer Partners?

MG: The POW/MIA Prayer Partners web site is something that I wanted to put up on the Internet for a long time.  And it is a reality now because of Lon.

I met Lon when I sent him a POW/MIA adoption over a year ago.  Lon is a Christian and a Vietnam Vet. At the time I met him he had 2 or 3 web pages up on the Internet. He sent me the URL for his site and I was very impressed with it.  I have watched Lon’s first site “Java for Jesus” grow into one of the biggest Christian web sites on the Internet and he has included many pages dedicated to the POW/MIA(s).  Lon put up his second site on his own domain called “Home with Jesus”; it struck like lightning and is also one of the top Christian sites on the Internet. Lon’s three sites receive over 4000 hits a day and because of these sites there is information about the POW/MIA(s) reaching people every day who find OJC through Lon’s web sites.

Lon is truly a man of vision and dedication and has the God-given talent to bring about what he is called to do.  Last summer Lon was inspired to put up a web site for New Year's Eve, called “Amazing Grace 2000” and he invited OJC to be a part of it.  Lon gave me the opportunity to talk about OJC and talk about the POW/MIA issue from a Christian viewpoint and I was very happy to take him up on the offer.  From Amazing Grace 2000 the POW/MIA Prayer Partner Web Site was born.

Sending out adoptions has brought to my attention how many Christians adopt a POW/MIA and mention on their adoption request form their commitment to pray for their adopted POW/MIA every day. Amazing Grace 2000 and Lon gave me the opportunity to put up the web site joining together the Christians who adopt a POW/MIA and their commitment to pray and we named it “POW/MIA Prayer Partners”.  Lon incorporated this site with Amazing Grace 2000 and it is working very well and has been a blessing and I am confident that the prayers will work to bring all the POW/MIA(s) home.

On the POW/MIA Prayer Partner Site we also have a place to submit other prayer requests.  We have Ministers, Vietnam Vets, Writers and many others praying for the POW/MIA(s) and the other prayer requests.  And thank God we are seeing many answers to our prayers.

I believe in what OJC does and back them in every thing they do and will continue to do that.  But because of knowing God and His love for His children, I also pray and believe in God for the answers we need to bring the POW/MIA(s) back home.  POW/MIA Prayer Partners combines the work I do with OJC and the desire I have and many other people have to pray for the POW/MIA(s) together while remaining two separate organizations and web sites.

Lon has been the inspiration, the work force and encouragement behind my participation in Amazing Grace 2000 and the POW/MIA Prayer Partner web site. He is Webmaster for the Prayer Partner Site and keeps it up and running very well.  He is a very good friend and the words “thank you could never begin to express my appreciation and thanks to Lon for all that he has done and for allowing me to be a part of his outstanding ministry and web sites.
 

MC: Anything else you want to share with our readers?

MG: When I first got involved with OJC I was a little uneasy because of the things you hear about the nuts on the Internet.  I soon realized that OJC was an organization with integrity and held truth and honor in high esteem. In this day and age when spoken words can have many meanings and change according to how people want them to change, when truth is not taken into accountability or even desired, it is rare to meet a group of people who work opposite of what has became the norm or standard.

Everyone knows and sadly accepts that the Government will lie and has continued to lie to us on many issues.  The Government has not only lied about the POW/MIA(s), they continue to carry on with their lies and deceit. Someone had to stand up and accept the job of representing the POW/MIA(s) and OJC is a major part of doing that.

I am proud to be a part of OJC for these reasons plus the work they do for the POW/MIA(s) is outstanding. But in the end all the work would be meaningless if OJC could not be trusted to be telling the truth. Work is one thing, trust, honor and truth is another thing – to have everything operating so well in one organization is what OJC is and will continue to be.

I am truly blessed to be a part of OJC.  The people I have met – Gunny, Steve, Dennis, Barb, the Adoption Team, the Web Site Team and all the friends I have made have greatly enriched my life and have brought a lot of joy and happiness to me.  I know the volunteers that make OJC run are very dedicated people and they do a lot of work but they also are a terrific group of people – helpful, kind and very caring. I am proud to call them my family and friends.

My fondest hope and prayer for the year 2000 is that we bring all the POW/MIA(s) home and that the people who worked so hard to bring this about get some much needed rest.  The OJC family welcomed me with open arms, accepted me and made me a part of them and I sincerely thank you for that and I pray that God richly blesses each and every one of you every day.

POW/MIA Prayer Partners

Amazing Grace 2000

Home With Jesus

Java For Jesus

When Johnny Comes Marching Home