Fallen Air Force Sgt. John Chapman Possible Medal of Honor

Air Force Seeks Medal Of Honor For CT Native Who Died In Afghanistan, NY Times Reports
Hartford Courant
Kristin Stoller
August 27, 2016

Valerie Chapman holds a photograph of her husband, Air Force

Tech Sgt. John Chapman. Chapman was killed on March 4, 2002

during Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan. (Tracy Wilcox / Hartford Courant)

The secretary of the Air Force is pushing to award a Medal of Honor to the first Connecticut native to die in the war in Afghanistan, based on new evidence 14 years after his death, the New York Times reported.

Sgt. John Chapman, 36, a standout athlete and 1983 graduate of Windsor Locks High School, was killed in combat after military action began in Afghanistan following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

He died on March 4, 2002, while attempting to retrieve the body of a Navy SEAL who had fallen from a helicopter during an attack by al Qaida and Taliban fighters, according to previous Courant reports.

But new evidence unearthed by the Air Force about Chapman's final hours suggests that a senior chief petty officer may have been incorrect when he declared Chapman dead during the attack, the New York Times reported.

Instead, the Air Force said, Chapman lived for an hour after his teammates had retreated, fighting enemy troops alone, according to the newspaper report. New technology used in an examination of videos from aircraft flying overhead indicate that Chapman killed two Al Qaida fighters before "dying in an attempt to protect arriving reinforcements," the newspaper reported.
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Murder-Suicide Investigation: Police Officer Survived Iraq, Battled Cancer

Waterbury Officer's Death Ruled Suicide; Second Victim Identified
Hartford Courant
Bill Leukhardt
July 22, 2016

Yocher served six years in the U.S. Army, including one tour in Iraq. He then transferred to the Air Force and served a second tour in Iraq. He received honorable discharges from both branches, according to a Dream Foundation release about the September 2015 event.

WATERBURY — A Waterbury police officer who was found dead Wednesday morning outside a slain man's home had committed suicide, state police said Friday.

Hallock Yocher, 37, killed himself in the backyard of 31-33 Marion Ave., state police said.

Authorities on Friday also identified the second victim, James T. Stuart, 39, and said he died from multiple gunshot wounds in his third-floor apartment at 31-33 Marion.

State police are investigating the relationship between Yocher and Stuart. Investigators have not mentioned any suspect in Stuart's murder. Earlier, police called it "an isolated incident" and said there was no threat to the community.

Yocher, a 10-year veteran of the department, had been battling Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer of part of the immune system. He was on the job despite his illness but off duty at the time of the Marion Avenue incident, police said.

In January 2014, Yocher, his wife and three children went to Walt Disney World, SeaWorld Orlando and Universal Orlando in Florida, a trip paid for by the Dream Foundation, a California nonprofit that helps terminally ill adults fulfill end-of-life dreams.
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Female Homeless Veteran Adopted by Community

Middletown animal control officers cared for homeless veteran in life — and death
The Middletown Press
By Kathleen Schassler
POSTED: 06/28/16

Baboolal first met Chaffee about five years ago, when he found her in a city parking lot in a sleeping bag with two small dogs, Mister and Peanut, on a cold and snowy December eve. Chaffee would not part with her beloved dogs so she could not enter the city’s homeless shelter.

MIDDLETOWN
For 26 years, Charlotte Chafee worked as a registered nurse before suffering a debilitating heart attack that led to the loss of her job. Soon after, the U.S. Air Force veteran silently slid into homelessness.

Middletown Animal Control Officers Gail Petras and Sgt. Nick Baboolal went above and beyond with efforts to provide Chaffee with safety and security while she lived, and with a final resting place in the State Veterans’ Cemetery after her untimely death last month.

On Monday, a small group of local veterans and residents joined Petras and two staff members from the Department of Veterans Affairs for a military burial service for Chaffee. The honor detail performed a ceremony that included the folding and presenting of the American flag to the next of kin, a 21-gun salute and the playing of “Taps.”
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Army Staff Sgt. Shot by Police on Anniversary of Friend's Suicide

Sheriff's Office won't release names of deputies who shot, killed 'suicidal' man in Harford 
The Baltimore Sun Bryna Zumer
March 4, 2016

"I think it's just telling that it's on the one-year anniversary of his friend who killed himself," Councilman Joe Woods said Friday about Bradley, who was believed to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Harford County Sheriff's Office said Friday that the names of the three deputies who shot and killed Army Staff Sergeant Travis Boyd Bradley, who was assigned to Aberdeen Proving Ground, would not be released.

The Sheriff's Office, citing its past practice and procedure, said the names of the deputies, who are on routine administrative leave, would not be released because they were part of the tactical deployment in the standoff that turned deadly Wednesday afternoon and evening outside of Bradley's house on Althea Court in Bel Air South.

The Sheriff's Office took a similar position against releasing the names of deputies involved in a shooting incident following the Sept. 28, 2013 fatal shooting of 34-year-old Austin Francis Jones inside a Havre de Grace house where police say Jones was holding a woman hostage and had pointed an object, which looked like a firearm, out the window at police.
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Female Veterans VA Health Moves Up From Basement

For female veterans, West Haven VA hospital provides visible space, more support
New Haven Register Veterans
Mark Zaretsky
March 5, 2016

Nearly 8 percent of the state’s veterans are women — and the numbers are growing larger.

WEST HAVEN
For years, the VA Connecticut Women’s Health Center was hidden in a basement of the Veterans Affairs medical center, its presence often known only to its staff and the women who used and depended on it.

Just like the clinic that provided for their health needs, Connecticut’s women veterans, themselves — a fraction of the overall veteran population of 200,000-plus in the state — were largely invisible.

These days, with more women serving in the military in more capacities, including on the battlefield, the needs are changing along with the numbers.

Nationally, about 10 percent of active armed forces are now women, the fastest-growing demographic within the military. Connecticut, as of the end of 2015, was home to 213,000 of the nation’s 22 million veterans — of which 17,000 (of 2.2 million nationally) were women, according to VA figures.

The VA has 4,300 female patients registered, of which 3,160 are active patients, said Vasquez, who works with VA Connecticut Women’s Program Manager Dr. Lynette Adams.
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Operation Desert Storm Veteran Remembers the Price of War

Goshen Air Force veteran recalls Persian Gulf War
Associated Press
By BRUNO MATARAZZO JR.
Saturday, March 5, 2016

TORRINGTON, Conn. (AP) - Soldiers suffered burns, broken bones and amputations. The trip from the various MASH units to the military hospital in Germany during Operation Desert Storm meant an airplane ride for injured troops.

Often, Donald Sage of Goshen was with them.

Now retired, the Air Force master sergeant from the 74th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron at Westover Air Force Base in Massachusetts was part of a crew of Air Force reserve soldiers who transported injured soldiers during the war in 1991.

The Persian Gulf War ended 25 years ago on Feb. 28, when President George H.W. Bush declared a ceasefire.

“Kuwait is liberated. Iraq’s army is defeated. Our military objectives are met,” Bush announced in a brief television address from the Oval Office the night before the cease fire.

It went into effect at midnight on the East Coast of the U.S.; 8 a.m. in Kuwait and Iraq.

“If you weren’t deployed over there, a lot of them don’t think that they deserve to be recognized, which is completely wrong,” Sage said. ” … If they weren’t doing their jobs back here, there wouldn’t be people over there.”
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Three Tours of Duty, PTSD Service Dog Not Allowed in Day's Inn

Veteran and service dog denied hotel room 
WFSB
Kevin Hogan
January 15, 2016

Derrick served three tours of duty in the middle east from 2005-2009. In 2006, he suffered a brain injury following an IED explosion while on patrol.

(CNN) – Meet the Ferringtons, Meagan and Derrick, their two toddlers and chesty, Derrick’s two year old service animal who helps to control his PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder. “His whole purpose is to be there for me to calm me down. When I get down he brings me up. Gets me out of the house,” said Derrick Ferrington.

This Colchester family is spending the next couple of weeks in a hotel because their house is undergoing mold remediation. read more here

WWII Veteran Gets Help From Community With Repairs

Local heroes help war hero reported on WTNH News out of Connecticut about a WWII veteran, Alex Sawchyn, needing to make repairs on his home to qualify for new insurance. He tried and fell twice at the age of 89.

A State Senator, along with a veterans charity and the community pitched in and got him back on his feet.

State Senator Mike McLachlan lauded the turnout, saying, “This is what neighbors looking out for one another is all about. Alexander Sawchyn is a member of the ‘Greatest Generation’ that does not ask for help. We are grateful to Purple Heart Homes, Mark Edwards, and all the volunteers that stepped up to help this wonderful World War II veteran and his wife, Theresa, who have always given so much to help others.”

Coast Guard Vietnam Veteran Honored for Heroism

Coast Guard Veteran Honored for Heroism in Vietnam War
ASSOCIATED PRESS
By DAVE COLLINS
NEW LONDON, Conn
Nov 9, 2015

"I didn't realize how much trauma I had buried inside," Carr said about finally opening up about his war experiences. "I was honored to be in Vietnam. It changed my life."

In this Friday, Nov. 6, 2015 photo, Coast Guard veteran William Carr, of Davenport, Iowa

Fires were raging and ammunition supplies were exploding during an enemy attack on a Navy base in Vietnam when William Carr ordered his Coast Guard patrol boat ashore to respond to the mayhem on March 10, 1968.

"This is stupid. You are going to die," Carr remembered thinking about that day he ran into the ammunition storage area amid the blazes looking for a missing Navy man, whom he would not find.

Carr was a 24-year-old lieutenant junior grade at the time, commanding the 82-foot patrol boat Point Arden and a crew of 10 other Coast Guardsmen. He led efforts to put out the fires, secure ammunition stockpiles and get medical assistance to the scene, where six to nine servicemen died and 98 others injured. He would be awarded the Bronze Star for his actions.

For 47 years, Carr, 72, never uttered a word about what happened that day — not even to his wife Judy, as he suffered what he believes was post-traumatic stress disorder. He finally started telling people about it in May, after officials at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, told him they were honoring him for his bravery and service.
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Connecticut Correction Department Has Veterans Unit

Connecticut opens prison unit dedicated to veterans 
Associated Press
By Pat Eaton-Robb
Published: November 7, 2015

The Veterans Administration says there are currently more than 530 military veterans in Connecticut prisons.

HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut's Correction Department has set up a new unit in its prison system devoted solely to inmates who are also military veterans.

The Veterans Service Unit, which includes 110 beds inside the Willard-Cybulski Correctional Institution, will be formally dedicated on Monday in a ceremony attended by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

It's part of a larger reintegration center at the prison, designed to prepare inmates to re-enter society.

But, in addition to the job training and other programs offered to other prisoners, the veterans will get special help to deal with military-specific issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder. There also will be peer counseling from other vets who have been to prison and access to attorneys from the Connecticut Veterans Legal Clinic.

The unit has a military theme, complete with reveille in the morning, a color guard, and a code of conduct that includes keeping a "squared away uniform at all times."

There are patriotic murals on the walls, and the official seals of the five branches of the Armed Services are displayed.
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Memories Of Vietnam Come Home To Manchester

Memories Of Vietnam Come Home To Manchester With The Wall That Heals
Hartford Courant
Jesse Leavenworth
October 6, 2015

After the start of the Iraq War in 2003, Simmons said he was determined to protect service members from the scorn heaped on veterans of his era.

MANCHESTER — On that indelible winter's day, Ann Marie Krajewski rushed to answer the doorbell with all the innocent enthusiasm of a 5-year-old.

Uniformed men stood outside, and her parents told her to go play, the now 52-year-old Ann Marie Grottke recalled Monday. Moments later, "I could hear my father burst out crying," Grottke said. "I never heard my father cry before."

U.S. Army Spec. 4 Donald Joseph Krajewski, Ann Marie's 19-year-old brother, was killed in Vietnam on Feb. 28, 1969. His remains were returned home on what would have been his 20th birthday, March 13.

Along with other men from Manchester, Krajewski's name is inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and on the replica that is scheduled to arrive in town Wednesday.

The Wall That Heals, a 250-foot-long traveling monument, is designed to bring the names home, allowing "the souls enshrined on the Memorial to exist once more among family and friends in the peace and comfort of familiar surroundings," according to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.

The keynote speaker for the opening ceremony is former U.S. Congressman Rob Simmons, a U.S. Army veteran who served 19 months in Vietnam and earned two Bronze Stars. Simmons also was a CIA operations officer in Vietnam and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
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Vietnam 50th Celebration in Connecticut, 8,000 Remember

Governor, Veterans Celebrate Vietnam 50th Commemorative Weekend 
Hartford Courant
Kristin Stoller
July 11, 2015

"When you actually got into combat, it was pretty simple," Guenon said. "It wasn't about support or not support, it was about supporting your friends." Vietnam veteran Bill Guenon

Vietnam 50th Celebration Brad Horrigan / Hartford Courant The look inside a C-130 H Hercules cargo aircraft at Connecticut's Vietnam 50th Celebration held at the Connecticut Air National Guard base Saturday.

EAST GRANBY — Vietnam War veteran Edward Mechenbier spent six years as a prisoner of war, and later he went back twice to visit the place he was held captive.

A golf shop was there on the site where one of his cells once stood, he recalled.

"Being a prisoner of war is not a volunteer assignment," Mechenbier said. "We were just the lucky ones who happened to get captured as opposed to killed."

About 8,000 people are expected to visit during each day of the two day event, according to Major Jefferson Heiland, of the 103rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs Division of the Connecticut Air National Guard.
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Vietnam Marine Veteran Inspires By Remaining Faithful

A Trailer Wrecked, A Long Trek, And Help Comes For Marine Veteran 
Hartford Courant
By CHRISTOPHER HOFFMAN
Special to The Courant
July 6, 2015

Richard Kowalker with his horses at the funeral for Norman Varney June 20.

(Michael Klett/D'Esopo Funeral Home, hc)

NEWINGTON — Richard Kowalker had brought his horse to more than 700 military funerals, but this one would be particularly special.

The deceased, Norman Varney, 90, was not only a fellow Marine, but also a survivor of the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II, one of the greatest battles in Marine Corps history.

As he has done at military funerals since 2006, Kowalker, 66, would honor the fallen serviceman by leading a riderless horse, an ancient symbol of a fallen warrior, at the funeral procession.

"I feel it's an honor just to be in the presence of that person," said Kowalker, referring to Varney. Kowalker is a Vietnam War combat veteran. "What they had to go through, I can only imagine. I believe there's a reason they call it the Greatest Generation."

But the day before the June 20 funeral, Kowalker faced a big problem.

His horse trailer was totaled in an accident. When he couldn't borrow a replacement, he made a decision. At about 10 p.m., Kowalker put on his Marine Corps dress uniform, saddled up two horses and began an all-night trek from Middlefield to Wethersfield, about 15 miles away.

Kowalker's vocation comes from hard and painful experience. He grew up in Newington and joined the Marines at 17. Two years later, he was sent to Vietnam. There, he served as a machine gunner at the height of the war in 1968 and 1969, fighting in places with names like Hill 55, Sherwood Forrest and Happy Valley.
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Fort Bliss Soldier From Florida Receives Army Commendation Medal with Valor Device

Army chief of staff honors two young Fort Bliss soldiers as heroes 
Army chief of staff pins medals of valor for their actions during an ambush in Afghanistan
El Paso Times
By David Burge
POSTED: 05/27/2015

Rudy Gutierrez—El Paso Times
Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, left, the 38th Chief of Staff for the U.S. Army pins the Army Commendation Medal with Valor Device to SPC Robert Gillespie, center, and PFC Nile Clarke, right, during a ceremony on post. The two soldiers were cited for their actions on March 13, 2014 when the convoy they were riding in was ambushed by insurgents in Afghanistan.

FORT BLISS
Two young Fort Bliss soldiers say they were just doing their jobs as infantry men, but the Army says they are heroes.

Spc. Robert Gillespie, a 21-year-old from Bartow, Fla., and Pfc. Nile Clarke, a 20-year-old from Norwalk, Conn., were each given the Army Commendation Medal with Valor Device during a ceremony at Fort Bliss on Wednesday.

They were recognized for their actions when the unit they were with in Afghanistan was ambushed on March 13, 2014, in the Zabul Province. They both exposed themselves to enemy fire, returned fire and allowed a six-vehicle convoy they were riding in to free itself up. No American soldiers were killed or wounded in the incident.

Making Wednesday's ceremony even more memorable, Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, who was visiting Fort Bliss for the day, pinned the medals on the two soldiers.

"They represent what we are about" as soldiers, Odierno said. "They care about the mission, they care about each other, about who they are and what they represent."

"War is a very personal business, especially on the squad and platoon level," Odierno added.

"It's about taking care of each other."
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Yes Virginia There Is Still A War Going On

Stealing from Yes Virgina There is a Santa Claus there seems to be a lot of people in America thinking troops are our of Afghanistan. Well here's a reminder while the rest of the country got too busy to notice, they are still leaving home serving them.

Connecticut National Guardsmen receive ceremonial sendoff
By WTNH.com
Staff
Published: March 5, 2015

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Ninety Connecticut soldiers are headed for Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.

The National Guardsmen and their families gathered Thursday night in Hartford for a ceremonial sendoff. About 35 members of the 143rd regional support group will head to a military post in Afghanistan.

Fifty-five soldiers with the 192nd military police battalion are bound for Cuba.

Their family members watched as Governor Malloy thanked them for their service.
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60 Percent Unemployed Veterans 45 and Older

Older Vets Make Up Most Of Unemployed, New VA Report Shows
Hartford Courant
By LISA CHEDEKEL
Conn. Health I-Team Writer
December 12, 2014

Veterans ages 18 to 54 had similar, or slightly lower, rates of unemployment than their civilian counterparts from 2000-2013, but older veterans were more likely than their peers to be unemployed, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The report also shows that the majority of veterans who were unemployed – 60 percent – were 45 and older, and that nearly a third were veterans who served after 2001.

The unemployment rate for that latest generation of veterans fell to 5.7 percent in November – down from 9.9 percent a year ago.

The newest women veterans face a higher unemployment rate than men: 8.1 percent, compared to 5.3 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The unemployment rate for the U.S. as a whole was 5.8 percent in November.
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Husband Charged After Fort Bliss Soldier Found Dead

Fort Bliss soldier killed in North Central El Paso apartment, husband arrested
El Paso Times
By Aaron Martinez
POSTED: 12/05/2014

The Fort Bliss soldier found dead Thursday afternoon in a North Central El Paso apartment was slain, and her husband has been arrested, officials said.

Pfc. Christina Bukovcik, 20, was found Thursday about 3:45 p.m. at the High Vista Apartments, 5041 Alabama, after police were called to check on her.

Police would not say how she was killed. Bukovcik was a food service specialist at Fort Bliss, post officials said.

According to Bukovcik's Facebook page, she is from Norwalk, Conn.

Her husband, Geomel Shaffa, 22, was arrested in Arizona in connection with her death. Shaffa was a former soldier in the Army, a post official said. No further details on his time in the army were released.

The aggravated assault charge was in connection to an incident in which Shaffa allegedly threw his wife at the time, Mariza Shaffa, off a third-story balcony, according to the El Paso Times archives. Shaffa was arrested on Oct. 26, 2013, and released from El Paso County Jail in March 2014.
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Fort Campbell Soldier Killed Crossing Street 2 Months After Afghanistan Mission

Police ID Connecticut man killed while walking on I-40
The Tennessean
Adam Tamburin
November 24, 2014

James Garvey, center, with his parents

the day he returned to Fort Campbell from Afghanistan in September.

(Photo: Submitted)

Police in Nashville are turning to the community for help answering questions about a young soldier's final moments on Interstate 40.

Garvey was killed early Sunday morning when two vehicles slammed into him while he was walking along the interstate near the Nashville International Airport. It is unclear why he was there; investigators did not find his car nearby.

Answers, if they come, will likely do little to ease the grief of the 24-year-old's shell-shocked family. Garvey's parents traveled from Connecticut to Ft. Campbell in September to welcome the young soldier back from Afghanistan, where he had flown Apache gunships, his father said.

In an email, James Garvey's father, William Garvey, said welcoming his son back to American soil just two months ago ranked among the happiest days of his life.
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Vietnam Veteran Earned Medals 46 Years Before He Got Them

Milford Vietnam veteran gets 17 medals, ribbon 46 years later
New Haven Register
Pam McLoughlin
October 21, 2014

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, left, presents Frank Somohano of Milford with medals and a ribbon Tuesday marking his military service.
Arnold Gold — New Haven Register

MILFORD
It’s been some 46 years since Frank Somohano Sr. served in Vietnam, but as of Tuesday he’s going to need a bigger display case for his medals and ribbons.

Somohano, 67, who served in the U.S. military for 22 years, was officially presented with 17 medals and a ribbon Tuesday at City Hall by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. Somohano served as a Marine for four years, going to Vietnam in 1964, then the Army for 16 years, and the Army Reserve.

“They mean everything. … I feel blessed,” he said of the new decorations. “I was pleasantly surprised when this happened.”
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Veterans Twice As Likely to Take Their Own Lives

Blumenthal, Murphy meet with VA, mental health officials in West Haven on vet suicides
New Haven Register
By Mark Zaretsky
POSTED: 09/26/14
WEST HAVEN

And veterans “are twice as likely to take their lives” compared to “non-vets of the same age,” Blumenthal said. “Quite frankly, this nation needs to do better.”

Major J. Alvarado, director of the Connecticut Army National Guard Medical Detachment’s Behavioral Health Team (back to camera), talks about veterans’ suicides to, from left, VA Connecticut Healthcare System Director Gerald Culliton, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. Mark Zaretsky — New Haven Register

Connecticut has one of the lowest rates of veterans committing suicide in the nation, “but any number above zero is unacceptable,” said U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., joined by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and a host of VA officials Friday at a roundtable on the subject.

But for reasons we don’t yet know, “there is a problem with suicide in our military” that goes beyond just veterans, said Blumenthal, a member of both the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Veterans Affairs.

How big a problem?

The suicide rate among present and former members of the military “is twice as high” as the rate among people who have never served in the military, he said.
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