John Neuman has put more than 84,000 miles on his pickup conducting ceremonies and setting up the Field of Honor all over the state as flag memorial for Oregon's veterans.

That's why the 62-year-old will be the grand marshal of Wednesday's Hollywood Veterans Parade. Neuman is a dogged promoter, who has turned his private medal program - the Oregon Honorable Service Medal - into a phenomenon among Oregon veterans.

More than 9,000 veterans have received the golden medal since Veterans Day 2006. That includes Gov. Ted Kulongoski and former President George W. Bush.

The Veterans of Oregon, a group he helped found, has raised more than $1 million from spaghetti feeds, telemarketing, and sponsorships to finance the medal and memorial program. Eventually, Neuman would like to turn both programs over to the state and the next generation of Veterans of Oregon.

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But until then, his Welches home, garage and family are all about his mission.

"We can't get John to slow down," says Doyle Robertson, the Veterans of Oregon president. "We're constantly fighting it."

Neuman says he does it all this work as a form of "self healing" from his time serving in Vietnam and the cold reception he received when he returned home from the war.

He volunteered for the Air Force in 1965, hoping to fly. He served the next six years as a C-130 crew chief based in Japan and Taiwan, ferrying cargo, troops, and the wounded in 45-day rotations in Vietnam.

He returned home with a bad back, blown eardrums and Agent Orange-related diabetes, heart disease, prostate, liver and kidney problems - and a smoking habit. He has neuropathy in his legs and sometimes falls down.

He also carries the scars of being told not to wear his uniform at home, the protester who spit at him in Seattle and the Portland VFW member who told him Vietnam wasn't a real war.

Neuman retired at 43, returned to Oregon and joined the joined the Vietnam Veterans of American and eight other organizations. He learned that veterans mostly wanted to be thanks, leading to the idea of a free medal to anyone who served honorably.

A Veterans of Oregon committee chose the design: a gold flag overlaid by a green Oregon silhouette and a black medevac helicopter. Printed on the back: the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard, and the words "Duty and Honor to God and Country."

The medals are made and hand-painted in Auburn, Wash., at Northwest Territorial Mint. The program grew rapidly and now includes a certificate and engraving.

In late September, Neuman suffered his fourth heart attack and a brain aneurysm. That still hasn't slowed him down. Recently he had medals and certificates ready for veterans during a convoy from Vancouver, Wash. to Wilsonville, Ore.

As other volunteers handed out the honorable service medals, Neuman just stood and watched.

"Anyone who made it back," he said, "can't forget."

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Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com