Showing posts with label Brevard County Veterans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brevard County Veterans. Show all posts

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Brevard County Veterans Memorial Garden gets new monument

New monument honors Vietnam vets
BY R. NORMAN MOODY • FLORIDA TODAY • May 6, 2009


Veterans installed the second in a series of monuments -- this one in honor of those who served in Vietnam -- that will be part of the Brevard Veterans Memorial Garden.

The garden, to be built in the shadow of two Vietnam-era helicopters and a tank, will have a central monument with brick walkways, benches, landscaping and memorials to those who served in the different wars.

The granite monument installed Tuesday will be repositioned once the memorial garden is built.

Skip Bateman, chairman of the Brevard Veterans Council, said they have been waiting for permitting from the county, but that work on the monuments is proceeding.

The Korean War monument was the first to be installed about a year ago.

"As long as we keep doing stuff, we know it's going to happen," Bateman said.
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http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20090506/NEWS01/905060327/1006

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Kick off for Vietnam Veterans Reunion with wreaths at the Traveling Wall

Ever since we've lived in Florida, we made the trip to Melbourne for the reunion. While we make the weekend, this is the first time we went to opening ceremony. My husband is in the Nam Knights and he was part of the escort in previous years, including this one, but I was really impressed seeing the wreaths being delivered to the memorial. It was a moving experience. These are some of the pictures I snapped.















Veterans welcome Wall to Brevard
BY R. NORMAN MOODY • FLORIDA TODAY • April 20, 2009


MELBOURNE — More than three decades after the end of the Vietnam War, stories about those who didn’t make it home and the poor homecoming for those who did still draws tears, even among strangers.


Many fought back tears or dabbed at their eyes at a ceremony this evening marking the opening of the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall display, a kickoff to weeklong activities for Florida’s 22nd annual Vietnam and All Veterans Reunion at Wickham Park.

Brevard County Commissioners Mary Bolin and Chuck Nelson and former Commissioner Jackie Colon all seemed to choke back tears as they spoke to a crowd of several hundreds gathered for the ceremony.

“We will never, ever allow any soldier to come back without that respect you deserve,” Colon said.

The ceremony included the laying of wreaths at the 288-foot long, 6-foot-tall wall — a three-fifths-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Fourteen-year-old Corby Givens returned Sunday from a school trip to Washington, where she saw the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Monday night, she helped to lay a wreath in honor of women veterans.

“I come here every year since I was born,” said the eighth-grader from Central Middle School. “It’s something that happens around my family.”

Her grandfather, Mike “JD” Givens, a Vietnam veteran, said some of his children and grandchildren have participated at different times and all have visited the memorial.
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Veterans welcome Wall to Brevard

Saturday, August 2, 2008

$220M OK'd For Orlando Veterans Hospital

$220M OK'd For Orlando Veterans Hospital
Money Part Of Massive Spending Bill

POSTED: 12:47 pm EDT August 1, 2008
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. House has approved $220 million in funding for the first veterans hospital to be built in Central Florida.

The money was part of a massive spending bill that will pay for various military construction and Veterans Administration projects. The House overwhelming passed the bill, 407-4, on Friday morning after spending hours late Thursday night debating numerous amendments to the measure, Local 6 News partner Florida Today reported.

The new facility will be built in the Orlando community of Lake Nona. Orlando is the largest metropolitan area in the country without a veterans hospital.

The new VA hospital will provide relief to more than 75,000 veterans living in Brevard County since the closest in-patient care facility is more than a two-hour drive away.
http://www.local6.com/health/17063565/detail.html

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Brevard County Vets taking on the wounds of PTSD

Our view: Helping our heroes

Improved federal benefits mixed with state proposal can aid Florida vets

The latest numbers on Iraq and Afghanistan veterans needing help for mental-health problems show how extensive the crisis has become:


Mental illness -- including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression, and drug and alcohol dependency -- is now the second biggest injury for which new vets seek treatment with the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to USA Today.


Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans seeking treatment for PTSD jumped by 20,000, or almost 70 percent, in the 12 months ending June 30, the VA reported.


Total mental health cases among those war vets rose from 63,767 on June 30, 2006 to 100,580 a year later, a 58 percent jump.

Those figures don't reflect thousands of other new vets treated at storefront VA centers around the country, or active-duty personnel already diagnosed with PTSD.

PTSD sufferers, along with other wounded troops, can require lengthy and costly aid -- more than overwhelmed federal and state agencies can currently provide.
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This piece also said that the Brevard county veterans have teamed up with Massachusetts based Home For Our Troops to help a serverly wounded veteran. This is what is best about our veterans. They continue to serve their brothers and sisters!