June 23, 2008

Maurer Honored with Wisconsin Board of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Lifetime Achievement Award

(MADISON) – In a ceremony during the June 20 meeting of the Wisconsin Board of Veterans Affairs at the Wisconsin Veterans Home in King, former Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary John J. Maurer was presented the Veteran Lifetime Achievement Award.

“The Board presented its Veteran Lifetime Achievement Award to former Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary John J. Maurer in recognition of his exemplary achievement as a member of the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, a veteran and a citizen in service to his community, the State of Wisconsin and the United States of America,” said Board Chair Marv Freedman.

Maurer served in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1942-45, attaining the rank of First Lieutenant. He was a B-24 bomber pilot and Airplane Commander during World War II while stationed in Italy, flying 17 sorties over Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia. He was awarded the Air Medal with clusters and a number of campaign service medals. After the war, he attended Marquette University. He served from 1950 as a pilot with United Airlines until his retirement in 1982. He served as a member of the Pleasant Prairie Town Board from 1961-63, including as its Chair from 1969-75, and was then elected to the Wisconsin State Senate in 1975, serving until 1985. During his tenure in the Senate, he was on the Building Commission and for eight years as a member of the Joint Committee on Finance, including six years as the JCF Senate Vice Chair and one year as the Committee’s Senate Chair.

He was appointed in 1985 by the Wisconsin Board of Veterans Affairs to be the Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, a post in which he served for six and a half years. During his tenure, Wisconsin’s state veterans benefits were maintained and expanded. Under his leadership, the facilities and quality of care at the Wisconsin Veterans Home at King were greatly improved. A 205-bed skilled nursing facility, Ainsworth Hall, was opened.

Board Chair Freedman noted that as a result of Maurer’s vision and leadership, the small Grand Army of the Republic Museum at the state Capitol, and the offices of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, were moved to their present location on the Capitol Square. By the time he retired in 1992, the Museum’s transformation into today’s state-of-the-art, nationally recognized Wisconsin Veterans Museum was almost complete.

The Administration and Activities Center of the Wisconsin Veterans Home at Union Grove was dedicated and named in Maurer’s honor in a special ceremony on December 8, 2006.

The Veteran Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes living veterans who have compiled a record of exemplary service as a military service member, a veteran, and a citizen during the veteran’s lifetime.

Maurer is the third recipient of the Veterans Lifetime Achievements Award. The first was presented to Eugene Moran, of Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin, a World War II veteran and former Prisoner of War who overcame severe conditions and came back to live an exemplary life of public service to Wisconsin veterans. The second award was presented to Dr. James C. Allen of Madison, a Korean War veteran and retired VA ophthalmologist instrumental in the enactment of U.S. Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin’s (D-WI) Dr. James C. Allen Veterans Vision Equity Act, which enables veterans who have a service-connected complete loss of sight in one eye to receive increased disability compensation if they later lose sight in the other eye.

The Board, through a subcommittee consisting of three board members, appointed by the Board Chair, selects the recipients. Nominations are accepted from any Wisconsin resident and the Board especially encourages submissions from Wisconsin veterans, veteran’s service organizations, county veteran’s service officer and other veterans groups.

There will be six annual awards. Nominations may be submitted at any time during the year, but no later than the 15th of the month preceding the month of a Board meeting at which the presentation is to be made. For more information about the award, go to www.wisvets.com/boardaward or call WDVA toll-free 1-800-WIS-VETS (947-8387).