My Father's company was on TV!

[Skiz]

Wow, he just sent this to me via email and says he has the it saved on a VCR tape as well.

This is the business I have known most of my life that my Father started at our kitchen table growing up. 15 years later, he had a 40,000 square foot building that was the largest manufacturing plant of military medals and insignia in the USA. He sold it about 3 years ago in order to retire at age 61, to the man you see in the video, Tom.

The company name, Graco was derived from my last name - Graves Company
I worked in that same building doing all of the work you see there when I was growing up, as well as doing multiple building expansions, renovations, etc. Pretty cool to see it on YouTube.

[youtube]V1tUaczJivU[/youtube]

[suprafreak6]

thats crazy man...congrats!

[Barbarossa]

Surely this is lounge stuff

[100%]

Is he the only one who makes them for the army?








.

[Skiz]

Is he the only one who makes them for the army?

He makes them for all branches of the military, but no, he isn't the only one. He is the largest though by far. The only other competition worth mentioning is Medals of America and Vanguard, but Vanguard is struggling to stay afloat as the were caught selling some restricted medals under the table that they weren't supposed to and have lost the ability to bid on government contracts.

[100%]

Watching the factory version sort of kills all the "honor" of the medal,
obviously someone has to make them

the weird element of course is that he profits from war and soldiers getting hurt
which has a bad taste in mouth twist to it.
but it seemed there was a lot of handwork involved so there is some.. personal elements involved.
The medal is important to those that serve..

[Cheese]

the weird element of course is that he profits from war and soldiers getting hurt
which has a bad taste in mouth twist to it.

I thought it was nice to see that not only oil companies and weapons manufacturers profit from wars. I'd imagine prosthetics companies are seeing an increase in business as well.

[j2k4]

Vanguard is struggling to stay afloat as the were caught selling some restricted medals under the table that they weren't supposed to...

To John Kerry, I presume.

[Busyman™]

I'm glad someone decided to clean up this thread and move it back to the Drawing Room.

Talk about a hijack.

@Skiz - that's pretty cool.

[Skiz]

Watching the factory version sort of kills all the "honor" of the medal,
obviously someone has to make them

the weird element of course is that he profits from war and soldiers getting hurt
which has a bad taste in mouth twist to it.
but it seemed there was a lot of handwork involved so there is some.. personal elements involved.
The medal is important to those that serve..

Let me just say that his business isn't centered around The Purple Heart and medals that somehow relate to injury and/or death. This is a business that runs year round, in peace-time or war. The vast majority of the medals and insignia are not for such reasons.

And certainly no one looks at it as he's profiting from a soldiers death. My Father was in the Air Force for a large portion of his life, and used to collect different medals for a hobby, from all eras, Revolutionary War to current. When he became dissatisfied with his pharmaceutical sales job after the military, he became interested in making the small ribbon bars, and it expanded from there.

That business, when my Father owned it, did more goodwill and charitable work than any other company I could name. (outside of the non-profits, etc.). After 9/11 he made tens of thousand of pins with the American flag that he gave out for free at small businesses all around town. Not for advertisements sake as there was none. It was just to do it. Any veteran that walked in off the street could have any medal that was tattered or whatever, replaced free of charge. It was just out of kindness and respect. If there was ever a family who would request a separate set of medals in a display case for a family member who had past away, or for a funeral, they were always done immediately and for free.

My Father did it because he loved what he was doing. He would probably tell you that getting paid for it was just a bonus.

Vanguard is struggling to stay afloat as the were caught selling some restricted medals under the table that they weren't supposed to...

To John Kerry, I presume.

Actually, they were selling The Medal of Honor. It's one of the very few medal that are highly restricted in production, for good reasons. If a manufacturer gets a bid to make it (my Fathers company is the only one who's allowed to these days), the die is sent to the company and a certain amount are to be made. Then the die and the medals are to be sent directly to the government destination.

Well, Vanguard, years ago, was making more than they were supposed to and selling them quietly to collectors for a hefty price tag. The FBI caught wind of it, investigated, and they lost their privileges to bid on government work.