Carmella LaSpada had planned a television career until fate, in the form of a black scarf, stepped in with other plans. While organizing a USO tour in Southeast Asia as a White House Special Projects Aide, she met the young wounded medic who would change her life and set her on a mission that has continued ever since. During a battle in Vietnam, this medic desperately tried to save 35 of his wounded comrades, but tragically saw each of them die in his arms before he, himself, was brought down.
As Carmella sat by him offering companionship, he pleaded with her, “ Promise you will do something so that the men who died, and their families, will never be forgotten.” With tears in his eyes, he handed Carmella a black scarf—a symbol of his unit—to seal this promise.
It was with these words in mind that Carmella founded No Greater Love in 1971. This humanitarian non-profit is the only organization in the country solely dedicated to providing annual programs of remembrance, friendship and care that bring together families of those who gave their lives in service to their country or killed by an act of terrorism.
During the Iran hostage crisis America faced in 1979, the wife of hostage Ambassador Bruce Laingen tied a yellow ribbon to a tree outside her home. Carmella wanted to make the ribbon a national symbol of unity. She spearheaded and sustained the yellow ribbon campaign by designing and distributing lapel pins with yellow ribbons. Her innovation began the tradition of wearing ribbons to identify national causes that continue to this day.
She initiated 11 memorials at Arlington National Cemetery dedicated by No Greater Love and organized more than 20 annual tributes to those who have died in wars, conflicts or by acts of terrorism, such as the 1983 Beirut bombings and the attack on the USS Cole.
The list of well-known people who have participated in her many efforts over the years reads like a National “Who’s Who.” To name a few --The Honorable Colin Powell, Walter Cronkite, General Omar Bradley, Frank Sinatra, Ted Williams and Betty Ford -- along with Members of Congress, Cabinet Secretaries, military officials, ambassadors, union leaders, journalists, cartoonists and stars of the entertainment and sport worlds have participated…for over 30 years.
In 1996, a few days before Memorial Day, Carmella met a group of schoolchildren touring Washington, D.C. and asked them, on a whim, what Memorial Day meant to them. When they responded, "It's the day the pools open," she became determined to reinforce the meaning of Memorial Day and ensure that those who died for our country would not be forgotten. The next year, Carmella initiated the National Moment of Remembrance and worked to have it formally established by Congress through Public Law 106-579. In January 2001, she was appointed White House Liaison and Executive Director of The White House Commission on the National Moment of Remembrance (aka The White House Commission on Remembrance ). The Commission was established to honor America’s fallen, to recognize our veterans and those who continue to serve our great Nation.
Awards
Carmella is the only woman to be awarded the United States Special Operations Command Medal. Other awards include: the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the U.S. Marine Corps League Dickey Chapelle Award, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Spirit of Enterprise Award, the Rotary Club Humanitarian Award, Penn State Outstanding Alumnus, the Unsung Heroine by the VFW Women’s Auxiliary and she has been named Washingtonian of the Year.