FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 26, 2009

CONTACT: Mark Daley
(202) 416-7681

St. Louis Resident Gene Crayton Elected National President of Paralyzed Veterans of America

First African-American to Hold the Organization’s Highest Office

President-elect Gene Crayton

Washington, DC—Gene A. Crayton of St. Louis has been elected national president of Paralyzed Veterans of America (Paralyzed Veterans) during the organization’s 63rd Annual Convention this month in Miami. He is the first African-American to be elected to Paralyzed Veterans’ highest office.

“I am deeply honored to be elected as national president and I look forward to fighting for our members: for quality VA health care, a barrier free America and new treatments for spinal cord injury,” President-elect Crayton said.

Crayton’s election follows five years of service as vice president and three years as senior vice president. He was first elected to the Paralyzed Veterans’ Executive Committee in 2000 at the 54th Annual Convention. He has been a member of the Gateway Chapter since 1983 and has served as its secretary, president and national director.

In 1965, during high school, Crayton enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserves. Upon graduation, he entered active duty and attended Hospital Corps School at the Naval Hospital in San Diego followed by field training at Camp Pendleton. He went to Vietnam with the 26th Marines, and saw action during the Tet Offensive at Khe Sanh. After leaving active duty, he went to St. Louis, where he was assigned to the local Marine Corps Reserve unit. An automobile accident in April 1969 resulted in paraplegia; he was honorably discharged in 1970.

Crayton will take office with the other members of Paralyzed Veterans’ Executive Committee on October 1, 2009, for one year.

ENDS

Sixty-three years ago, Paralyzed Veterans of America was founded by a band of spinal cord injured service members who returned home from World War II to a grateful nation, but also to a world with few solutions to the challenges they faced. These veterans from the “Greatest Generation” made a decision not just to live, but to live with dignity as contributors to society. They created an organization, dedicated to veterans service, medical research and civil rights for people with disabilities. And for more than six decades, Paralyzed Veterans and its 34 chapters have been working to create an America where all veterans, and people with disabilities, and their families, have everything they need to thrive. (www.pva.org)