7/3/2007 - It Was 60 Years Ago: Saluting the Vision of AFS Founders – AFS commemorates historic meeting that led to the founding of the AFS International Scholarships

AFS celebrated the historic AFS Ambulance driver meeting that decided to establish the AFS International Scholarships in 1946 by hosting a luncheon at the headquarters of AFS International on September 29, 2006.

The event gathered a number of AFS Ambulance drivers, former AFS trustees and board members, prominent AFS alumni, volunteers and staff to salute the vision of the AFS Founders and kick-off a year long celebration of the 60th anniversary of AFS intercultural exchange programs. “This is the first of many celebrations over the coming year that AFS will observe to mark this milestone, and in many ways, this is one of our most important reasons to celebrate,” said Tachi Cazal, president of AFS International, “this is because without our founders and what they decided during their historic reunion in 1946, we would not be here today.”

Norman Eddy cutting the cake while Tachi Cazal, Anne Hitzegrad and Arthur Howe look on.

Founders at the table.

Among the distinguished guests in attendance were five of AFS founding ambulance drivers: Ward Chamberlin, Edwin Masback and Norman Eddy all of whom are AFS Life Trustees, Art Howe, a former AFS International President, and Dick Morrill. The AFS drivers addressed the audience after the luncheon. Art Howe underlined the fact that AFS remains a viable and flexible organization stating that “AFS has a firm foundation in theory and in practice. All of us who have had experience with AFS, either in war or in peace, will testify to the power and the value of intercultural exchange programs. In all our activities we are working toward achieving a code of behavior that is accepted and recognized all over the world. Love your neighbor, treat others with respect, be a good citizen, understand and listen with patience and be tolerant. If there is anything that today’s world sorely needs are people trained to have these qualities. But AFS programs not only offer this training, they also deeply instills in people at an impressionable age, with a deep understanding and insight and a depth of feeling and perception that they would not have acquired without the AFS experience.”

Arthur Howe, Jr. key note speech at the event.

Tachi Cazal addressing the gathering.

H.E. Ambassador Gerhard Pfanzelter reminiscing about his AFS experience in 1959-60.

Norman Eddy stated that his AFS wartime experience opened his heart to the possibility of achieving peace by getting people all over the world to understand about each other and their cultures. He also stressed that the kind of understanding offered by AFS intercultural programs may also help alleviate the poverty problems that afflict so many in today’s world.

Dick Morrill, who was the chaperone for AFS’s first bus trip that took over fifty AFS students all over the United States in 1948, also addressed the audience. He talked about the warm welcome that the AFS programs received in the U.S. during its first years of operation and how that welcome has grown to include over 50 nations in the world.

Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations from Austria, Gerhard Pfanzelter, an AFS returnee who came to the U.S from Austria in 1959 remarked on how AFS has truly become global and how the organization can be extremely proud of what it has achieved. The Ambassador said that “AFS is the best supporter of the United Nations because the ideas of AFS are identical to that of the U.N. and both organizations were born from the desire to avoid the destruction created by global wars.” The Ambassador said that there is a common language of understanding that unites all AFS participants and enables those AFS participants who are engaged in diplomatic work to achieve even more significant success together.

Mary Annery and Wynona Ellis, who both worked with Stephen Galatti, former trustees Adele Taylor, and Mary Chesnut, Galatti award winner Catharine Currin and Ikuhisa Ishikawa, the former chairperson of AFS Japan were also among the notable guests in attendance. Alex Plinio, President of AFS-USA was also one of the distinguished guests who represented the country that first hosted AFS program participants.

On that historic meeting that spanned 3 days, 27 – 29 September 1946, Stephen Galatti addressed an audience of AFS drivers and of French and British allies during the three day meeting that culminated in the historic founding of the AFS International Scholarships and said that:

“…we look forward to the understanding that we know exists between free men of all nations. This is why we came here tonight. This is why we asked our distinguished guests to honor us with your presence. And we hope they will send back word to their countrymen that American Field Service men, gathered here tonight send this message:

We were at your side during the war because we believed in you; we will remain at your side during peace because we know that it can endure only if all of us can understand each other as we understand you.”

It was this remarkable, yet very simple vision that put the emphasis on peace through understanding that was celebrated at this luncheon. Thanks to this vision and the people who worked to keep it vibrantly alive, AFS has persisted in its mission of having millions of people “walk and talk” together.

Tachi Cazal with the Driver Founders Dick Morrill and Norman Eddy.

AFS with its Partner organization network that extends to more that 50 countries around the world, with programs involving more than 80 countries, with more than 30,000 active volunteers and supporters in the hundred of thousands, its yearly participant numbers in excess of 11,000 individuals and whose programs have enriched the lives of over 350,000 persons and an equal number of host families, would not be in existence today without the AFS driver’s extraordinary foresight.

The luncheon concluded with the cutting of a 60th anniversary dessert cake which was presented to the AFS Drivers by two young AFS International interns, Stefano Sissoldo from Italy and Anne Hitzegrad from Germany, both AFS returnees.