Diller to aid disabled veterans' monument

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Comedian Phyllis Diller is set to join two veterans' groups and other sponsors in the creation of an honorary monument to disabled U.S. veterans in Washington.

Diller will serve as the effort's spokeswoman, and plans to join private individuals, the Disabled Veterans' LIFE Memorial Foundation and The American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial in helping to build the monument, which would honor those wounded in the U.S. armed forces, a DAV release said.

"I have spent a lifetime entertaining, working with and doing all I can to support our armed forces," Diller said. "To be a part of the effort of building a memorial to honor disabled American veterans is truly an honor and commitment I am pleased to make."

The memorial is scheduled to be funded entirely from private donations rather than public funds, and will be the first monument dedicated to the more than 3 million disabled U.S. veterans.

The release said the 89-year-old "Queen of Comedy" will be joined in the campaign by actor Gary Sinese, who played a disabled veteran in the 1994 film "Forrest Gump."