Foundation Seeing Some Debt Go Away

"The National D-Day Memorial Foundation has reduced its debt from $3.6 million in June to $3.2 million, partly through memorial plaques that have brought in $5,000 each. Eighty-four plaques are now up in the Bedord memorial's central plaza.....Forty-four of the 87 plaques are for Americans,
and 43 for other Allies....

"In addition to the money coming in for plaques, (Foundation President) McIntosh sees good news for the $25 million memorial in the establishment of a new, three-person development team.  On September 1, Jeffrey R. Fulgham, former vice president for development at Wesley College in Dover, Deleware, became the national D-Day Memorial Foundation's development director and the head of the new team....

"McIntosh said if fund raising continues at its current rate, the foundation will be out of the red in two years.  But the debt-free date "could be tomorrow if the right person got engaged in this project," he added....The foundation was $3.8 milion in debt when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last November.  It exited bankruptcy on June 19...."

-- Victor Reklaitis, The Lynchburg News and Advance, October 22, 2003

Debt Being Paid Off

"The National D-Day Memorial Foundation has paid all but its top five creditors and plans to settle the rest of its $3.8 million debt within five years according to a payment plan the foundation submitted in federal bankruptcy court in Lynchburg.

"The foundation, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November, already has setttled about $37,000 in operating expenses for the granite and bronze monument, memorial President William McIntosh said Wednesday.

"The foundation still owes approximately $1.9 million to Coleman-Adams of Forest and $869,000 to Dickson Architects and Associates of Roanoke.  The other creditors -- the Bank of the James, Leopold Galleries and Old Dominon Landscaping -- claim about $800,00 among them.  Interest and legal fees are anticipated to be about $200,000...."

-- Associated Press, April 17, 2003

"Foundation attorney Richard Maxwell filed the disclosure statement and plan for reorganization on Tuesday. A trustee for the U.S. Western District Bankruptcy Court in Lynchburg is expected to conditionally approve the plan, and there will be a formal confirmation hearing on May 22 at 11 a.m. ...

"Maxwell wrote in the disclosure statement that the foundation expects to pay its attorneys somewhere close to $55,000 for their services.

"Under the terms of the plan, the foundation will pay the last dollar of its debt within five years.  D-Day foundation president William McIntosh has said that he hopes to raise the money in as little as a year and a half.

"McIntosh expects to raise $700,000 from an ongoing project to hang bronze plaques with the names of American and Allied soldiers who fought and died on D-Day, and an additioanl $5 million through captial campaigns.  The bronze plaques cost $5,000 each to underwrite and will be dedicated on Memorial Day weekend.

"Court documents indicate that the memorial's annual operating expenses average around $1.6 million, and that the foundation is able to pay that amount with money it recives from site visitation, gift shop revenue, annual giving, grant programs and direct mail solicitation...."

-- Caroline Wallinger of The Lynchburg News and Advance, April 16, 2003

Memorial, Creditors Agree On Plan

"The D-Day foundation will pay off $3.8 million in the next five years as part of the agreement...As part of the agreement, none of the balance owed will be subject to interest initially, but any debt remaining after 30 minths will be subject to 8 percent interest, retroactive to August 2002.

"McIntosh said he was confident the foundation will raise $1.5 million in the next year and a half...  The foundation, however, still must cope with negative publicity from the fraud trial of former foundation president Richard Burrow...."

--Jay Conley of The Roanoke Times, March 7, 2003

Major Step

"Clif Coleman, president of Coleman-Adams Construction Company, joined architect Byron Dickson and memorial foundation president William McIntosh Thursday to announce the agreed upon solution and to express a continued spirit of cooperation.

"'We're very proud to be involved in this project and it is our pride that has allowed us to work through this process,' Coleman said...

"Coleman went beyond just talk -- he donated an additional $10,000 on behalf of Coleman-Adams and the Coleman family.  The money will be used to underwrite two bronze plaques bearing the names of soldiers who died on D-Day...

"'The key to the completion and stabilization of the D-Day memorial is payment of debts already in place,' McIntosh said.  'Once we've done that , it our intention to move on with the educaiton center and ultimately to establish an adequate endowment to support and maintain the memorial...'

"McIntosh said he hopes to raise as much as $1.5 million in fewer than two years with the help of a newly recruited blue ribbon development commission... The development commission consists of fund-raising professionals from across the state, McIntosh said, with more than a century of combined experience in the field.  Members include Wallace Stettinius of Ricmond, John Shannon of Newport News, Gerald Quigg of Richmond, Thomas Connors of Charlottesville
and Stephen Stevick of Bedford....

"The memorial continues to raise money through its underwriting program for the bronze plaques, which cost $5,000 each to underwrite. Beyond Coleman's donation, McIntosh said the money recently raised by the Marine Corps League has paid for two plaques so far and that Moose Lodges across the state have conributed $40,000 for 8 plaques.  The found has ordered a total of 50 plaques so far and will dedicate them this Memorial Day..."

-- Caroline Wallinger of The News and Advance, March 7, 2003

Goal

“The foundation’s immediate goal is to settle all outstanding debt, which amounts to almost $7 million. An invigorated Roanoke Campaign is capable of raising a third of that amount.

“Speaking for the departed board members, we stand behind the next wave of directors. Our prayers and best wishes go to them, President William McIntosh and his fine staff.”

-- Robert Slaughter, former chairman of the NDMF, The Roanoke Times, October 16, 2001
 
 

The National D-Day Memorial Foundation filed for reorganization on November 8, 2000, under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy code, allowing the Memorial to continue operation while implementing a plan to sustain operations and increase revenue.

William A. McIntosh, President of the Foundation said, “Though the necessity to reorganize is unfortunate, reorganization does allow the Foundation to perform its memorial mission while obtaining funds to pay all creditors equitably.

“It is business as usual,” says McIntosh. “The D-Day Memorial remains open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. in Bedford, Virginia, in tribute to the valor, fidelity, and sacrifice of the Allied Forces that participated in D-Day on 6 June 1944.”

The Foundation had paid Coleman Adams Construction, Inc. $8.9 million and acknowledges owing approximately $1.6 million more. Dickson Architects & Associates has received $2.2 million from the Foundation and contends it is due an additional $869,000. Since July 2001 the Foundation has paid creditors more than $1.8 million. “The Foundation intends to treat all creditors fairly and equitably in proportion to their portion of the overall debt,” said McIntosh. “To do that, however, we need an opportunity to put our plan in place. Reorganization gives the Foundation that opportunity.”

-- NDMF News Release, November 8, 2002
 
 

-- Jay Conley, The Roanoke Times, April 20, 2002

-- Editorial, The Roanoke Times, June 22, 2002

“When I read of the frustrations besetting the D-Day Memorial committee, an ever looming question is: Why not governmental funds for this overdue tribute to the men who participated in the D-Day offensive launched at Normandy on June 6, 1944?

“After all, the men who fought -- many of whom were killed and wounded -- that day and the following days were primarily American, British and Canadian soldiers. To expect financial support from the governments who ordered those thousands into the icy waters, to crawl under withering fire, amid screams of agony and the twisted corpses of fallen comrades that historic day now seems only fair.

“Though fittingly set in Bedford, the D-Day Memorial commemorates an international endeavor for a universal cause.”

-- Rodney A. Franklin of Roanoke, The Roanoke Times, June 19, 2002
 
 

“There are more casualties of D-Day than those who gave their lives on the beaches of Normandy. Yet the formidable task ahead is to get behind this new board and raise the funds necessary to bring one of the greatest and most monumental achievements of its kind in Virginia’s history out of its financial shortfall.

“Whatever the outcome of the current ‘investigation,’ the funds to pay these debts must be raised. We cannot bankrupt our boys who were left behind on Omaha Beach. What is asked of us, after all, is far less than the sacrifices of those we honor and the victories they achieved.”

-- Judge Jack Coulter, a member of the original board of directors
of the NDMF, The Roanoke Times, May 19, 2002