Posted by Rev. Taekon Lee added 17 new photos to the album: The International One World Crusade (I.O.W.C.). IOWC! I joined the Northeast Team (Teddy Verhyan) in Rochester, Ny in July 74. Wild ride! I was with the American/French bus team in 1972 I think. Hugh Spurgin our leader. North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota. We were quite successful. As a part of a One World Crusade team, I toured the Southeastern states of the United States from January through March 1973, visiting Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. Our team leader was Jon Schuhart. The OWC I joined for a few months in the Southeast included team leader Jon Schuhart, Dan Holdgreiwe, Scottie Payne, Michael Brownlee, Alice Van Dyke Penhard, Jayne Knudson Bacon, Bob Heater, Teesha Rogers, Bob Armstrong, Allen Cooke, Jutta Tschaudi, Anne-Marie Genosy Morgan, Guido Lombardi, Robert Williamson, Alouis Bachheimer, Susanne Spielauer, Bill Sommerville, Kimiyo Chogo Anceney, Rosi Schuster, Veronica Rees and Albert DeCaen. The One World Crusade was formed in 1972 with American members. When True Parents visited Europe in the spring that year they asked each nation to pledge a certain number of people they would send to America. The first contingent came on that plane January 15, 1973 and was divided in 10 teams joining the existing 10 O.W.C. teams. I think O.W.C. became the International One World Crusade (I.O.W.C.) later that year when the Japanese members joined in. I remember that True Parents had to wait for us one hour in the airport because there was some slow down with Immigration. What I remember now it that first there was 10 OWC teams and each one had 5 states, spending a couple weeks in each, witnessing on campuses. Our team had Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North and South Carolina. Then the teams were divided and became stationary. Jon Shuhart went to Michigan with half the team. We stayed in Florida with Robert Williamson. After that the Japanese members came and Father made the first IOWC teams which were sent to work for the 21 cities tour. We had Perry Codells team come to Tampa where Father spoke 3 nights in a row. After that was the forgive-love-and-unite rally, the 32 cities tour, Madison Square Garden. After MSQ Father send the Global Team to Korea for the Yoido rally. I was with an American bus team in 1973. Our European half was predominantly German, but also included a couple Austrians, one Finish brother, and one British brother. Regis Hanna was our team leader. We were in the Northwest Region -- Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. My memory is the same as Anne-Marie Morgan regarding the formation. I joined the OWC in December 1972 with a workshop in Washington. There had been 3 teams traveling around the US earlier that year. At the time we went out, there was no expectation of Europeans joining us or even coming to the US. I think the second wave of Europeans came in February. My husband was in that group. My memory tells me that the teams became the IOWC when Father created the team to go to Japan and Korea. This team worked on the Yoido Island Rally. Though I participated in the Yankee Stadium and Washington Monument rallies, I dont recall them being associated with One World Crusade. I do know that IOWC teams existed until 1982. My husband was on one that Neil Salonen lead until our blessing. He brought the team to NY and it was folded into New York Church. There is a large book that David Kim published with lots of photos of OWC work. 15 from France, 3 or 6 from Italy and a big group ( more than 15) from England. I was on that plane . We came from Holland ( the dutch did not make it because of visa problems. They came later). The plane stopped in England to pick up a large group of excited friends. We were greeted at the airport by Father and his staff. He said we were representing the Pilgrim fathers ( and mothers) and he wished someone would have filmed our arrival because of its significance. The European members arrived in January 1973 and joined the American members. Father himself picked us one by one and matched us with a team. It was amazing! My team was international and I was again with some of them In the NHSI ( Sebastian Huemer, Soon Ja Richardson and Margaret Elliott are the ones I remember). Father asked for the French women to step forward then he took me by the shoulders and picked members from all over Europe including Soon Ja who was in Germany and off we went to Oklahoma with Phillip Burley and our American friends. What an incredible time it was. It seems like a dream...a vast land, miles and miles and I could not close my eyes, just taking everything in, a dictionary in my hand, determined I would try my best to talk with everyone I met. It makes me laugh now, I had absolutely no concept. My team was great and the American members became missionaries later on. God bless them all! The World Rally for Korean Freedom, sometimes referred to as the Yeouido Island Rally, was held on June 7, 1975. True Father spoke on “Korea in the World” to a crowd that was estimated at between 600,000 and 1.2 million on the Yeouido Island Plaza in Seoul. The immediate context for the rally was the fall of Cambodia and Vietnam to communist forces in late April of that year. Convinced that Kim Il Sung, at the time the leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, was trying to invade South Korea by taking advantage of the Indochina situation, True Father determined to stage a massive rally not only in the name of the people and humankind, but also in the name of God. Korean, Japanese, American and European Unificationists who were members of the International One World Crusade (IOWC) distributed some 5 million leaflets, and as many as 1,700 chartered buses were used for transport from local cities and provinces. The rally itself was a staggering spectacle. A million Korean flags were distributed, and 2,400 police were mobilized for crowd control. True Father proclaimed that enthusiastic youths from 60 different countries would defend this country to the last, at the cost of their lives. Noting that world Unificationists of the Unification Church regard Korea as their religious fatherland and holy land, he warned that if North Korea provokes a war against the South Korean people, his followers would organize a Unification Crusade Army and take part in the war as a supporting force to defend both Korea and the free world.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 01:54:18 +0000
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