Oldest Veteran in USA is 110 and Female

UPDATE
Woman Believed to be Nation's Oldest Veteran Dies at Age 110

President Obama Meets Nation's Oldest Veteran, 110, Calls Her a 'Trailblazer'
People.com
BY KATHY EHRICH DOWD
07/17/2015

Emma Didlake and President Barack Obama OLIVIER DOULIERY-POOL/GETTY

Emma Didlake was a 38-year-old wife and mother of five children when she felt the call to service in 1943 as the country was in the midst of World War II.

Now, more than 70 years later, President Barack Obama has honored her for her service, recognizing her distinction as the country's oldest living veteran at 110. 

Meeting Didlake, who served in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, is a "great reminder not only of the sacrifices the Greatest Generation made" but also of the "trailblazing" done by women veterans and African-American veterans who helped to integrate the military, Obama said as he sat next to Didlake Friday in the Oval Office. read more here

VA Spied on Police Officers?

VA Medical Center execs hid cameras, microphones in police officers’ rooms: suit 
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
BY NINA GOLGOWSKI
June 23, 2015

Shortly after, another was allegedly found in a room informally used by both male and female officers to change in.

D.C's VA Medical Center has allegedly gone Big Brother.

Hidden cameras and microphones have been discovered in several rooms — including a changing room — used by the medical center's police officers, a bombshell lawsuit claims.

Two dozen current and former officers say the devices were set up by the department's police chief and the medical center's director as a means to illegally spy on their employees.

Any behavior or information captured and suspected as illicit would allegedly then lead to disciplinary action including officers' suspension and termination.

In addition to violating the 24 officers' privacy and constitutional rights, the surveillance created "an atmosphere of utter distrust amongst all employees," the suit alleges.

That distrust is apparently ongoing amid suspicions that not all of the cameras and microphones were found and that they're still recording.
read more here

Lincoln Awards Concert for Veterans and Military Families

A Concert for Veterans and The Military Family
PBS
May 22, 2015
Lincoln Awards
Enjoy a concert in celebration of the Lincoln Awards, which recognize outstanding achievement and excellence in providing opportunities and support to veterans and military families.

Suicides In Washington Reminder of Taxes and Burdens

This is a reminder for the first part of the article from Daily Kos you'll read below.

Man who set himself on fire on National Mall is identified
NBC News
By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer
October 8, 2013

The man who died after having set himself ablaze last week on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was identified Monday night by police, who gave no indication they had any idea why he did it.

John Constantino, 64, of Mount Laurel, N.J., suffered "significant" burns over his entire body and died at a hospital, D.C. police said. Constantino doused himself with gasoline from a red canister and set himself on fire Friday afternoon near the National Air and Space Museum, further rattling a city that was already on edge a day after a Connecticut woman was shot dead after she tried to ram her car through a White House barrier.

While I know it may be stunning to learn after all this time, it did happen. But there were no protests or marches through city streets for lives of veterans that are supposed to matter at least as much as when we send them off to war.

Well, there was another public suicide. Thanks to the Daily Kos and a friend from Facebook, all of us know about it.

"Tax The 1%": Political Statements by Suicide in DC Shall Not Go Down the Memory Hole
by thirty three and a third
MON APR 13, 2015

Latest DC suicide holds “Tax the 1%” sign as he shoots self/Lapdog media hush reveals complicity/These men didn't die in vain.

When 64 yr old Vietnam Vet John Constantino burned himself to death on the DC Mall in October of 2013 I couldn’t stop thinking about this man and his act. Who was he? What compelled him? What was his life’s story? What were his political views, his life’s station, etc? I wanted to write a blog then but didn’t.

Then Saturday happened.

On the kind of beautiful sunny day when hope springs eternal, an older gentleman wearing a backpack walked over by the fountain in front of the Capitol Building in Washington DC. And a sign. According to people who saw him, it said simply:

Tax The 1%”

The police captain on the scene who addressed the news cameras eerily avoided the question, mumbling that it was “something about social justice,” as if he were annoyed to address any specifics. So, we know nothing else. Not even a name was given. A dog run over by car might have gotten more respect and news coverage than this unknown man.

What kind of a society have we become? A man decides to commit suicide as an act of political courage, and is dismissed by both the police and media as unworthy of further examination?
read more here

Lincoln Veterans Memorial Rolling From Phoenix to DC

New Lincoln Memorial emerges in Phoenix from VA crisis 
AZ Central
Chad Bricks
12 News
April 3, 2015

"There is a lot of finger pointing going on. The truth is the VA is not getting adequate funding. That's the bottom line."

This 1976 Lincoln Bicentennial Town Car is the ‘New Lincoln Veteran’s Memorial’. It will soon be on the road to D.C. in an ultimate road trip stopping at VA’s around the country before it arrives in Washington D.C. Photo by Chad Bricks.
(Photo: 12 News)

Phoenix is recognized as the starting point to the national crisis at the Veteran's Administration. One veteran has made it his mission to make it the beginning of the solution as well.

"Phoenix is where the hurricane happened," said Neil Bernstein.

Bernstein is the commander of the 'New Lincoln Vets Memorial'. It is a moving memorial made from a 1976 Lincoln Bicentennial Town Car. It is signed by veterans who have served and is designed to catch the attention of lawmakers.

"This is what's happening to our vets who have honorably served," Bernstein said as he racked the handles of the white coffin that sits atop of the Lincoln. He calls it "preposterous' for Vets to return home stateside only to die from complicated or inadequate health care.
read more here

Vietnam Womens Memorial Not For Playtime!

These parents should be ashamed but it is doubtful they would know why. If they understood what these memorials mean, they would have been horrified by their kids treating it like a playground area.

Vietnam Womens Memorial Foundation
Diane Carlson Evans...over 265,000 women served in the armed forces of the United States. Nearly 10,000 women in uniform actually served in-country during the conflict. They completed their tours of duty and made a difference. They gave their lives.

The Vietnam Women’s Memorial was established not only to honor those women who served, but also for the families who lost loved ones in the war, so they would know about the women who provided comfort, care, and a human touch for those who were suffering and dying. The Vietnam Women’s Memorial was dedicated in 1993 as part of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

The Vietnam Women’s Memorial Project was incorporated in 1984 and is a non-profit organization located in Washington, D.C. The mission of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Project is to promote the healing of Vietnam women veterans through the placement of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial on the grounds of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.; to identify the military and civilian women who served during the Vietnam war; to educate the public about their role; and to facilitate research on the physiological, psychological, and sociological issues correlated to their service. The Project has the support of every major veterans group in the country including the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and more than 40 other diverse organizations.

In 2002 The Project changed its name to the Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation to better reflect its mission at this time.
Diane Carlson Evans, RN
Vietnam, 1968-69
Army Nurse Corps, 1966-72

These memorials are to honor all those who lost their lives combat zones. This one is for the women who put their lives on the line in Vietnam, all volunteers, ready to die so they could save as many lives as possible.

Why should these parents understand any of this better than their children? That seems to be a good question but the better question is, why bring them there in the first place if they had no clue what these war memorials meant to the men and women these things are for?

There is a poll up with 1,669 folks voting. As it stands right now, it is 89.81% voting it was disrespectful.

Innocent or disrespectful? Picture shows kids climbing on Vietnam Women's Memorial as vets look on 
AL.com
By Crystal Bonvillian
March 24, 2015

When artist Matthew Munson visited Washington, D.C., recently, he took plenty of photos.

One photo he didn't necessarily count on was a photo of children climbing on the Vietnam Women's Memorial, located on the National Mall near the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.

"There wasn't a lot of people at this point," Munson said, according to WHNT News 19, "then a big group of people showed up just as the kids were treating the memorial more like a jungle gym and the parents were laughing. Then the veterans showed up, and they looked hurt more than angry. They were quiet."
read more here

March 8, 1965, Nearly 5,000 Marines Landed In Da Nang

 

Yesterday was an important anniversary, but I doubt you saw anything on the news or in your local paper.  Sunday marked 50 years since the first brigade-strength U.S. Marine unit arrived in Vietnam. On March 8, 1965, nearly 5,000 Marines from the 9 th Marine Expeditionary Brigade landed to defend the American air base at Da Nang. It's an anniversary that was met with little fanfare. However, the impact of that day and the years that followed during the Vietnam War, still affect our country in ways large and small. Share this story, and together we'll remind everyone why Vietnam still matters. The Vietnam War was arguably the most divisive event in our nation during the 20th Century. When 9 million Americans served, and more than 58,000 made the ultimate sacrifice, not just those service members were forever changed.  Their families, their buddies, and the country as a whole also were impacted socially, politically, and militarily. What Vietnam veterans faced when they came back home, a divided America and at times little to no respect for their service, has now generated a new legacy - a proud legacy of service in America in which people stand and shake the hands of service members and say, "Thank you and welcome home." It was Vietnam veterans who vowed to never again let a generation of Americans go to war without the support and respect they deserve.   As current wars rage on, Vietnam veterans are the first to recognize our Iraq and Afghanistan veterans for their service. As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, we remember those 5,000 Marines who landed on March 8, 1965, as the beginning of something much larger.  That day was the start of something that not only affected those men and their families, but each and every one of us today. View and share the story here:   http://www.buildthecenter.vvmf.org/50-years-later-vietnam-still-matters Their service and sacrifice still matters . . . To our Marines, we simply say, "Thank you, and Semper Fi."   Jim Knotts CEO Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund

Left At The Wall 400,000 Tributes To Honor Fallen

Stories of grief, love and penance live among what’s left at the Vietnam Wall
The Washington Post
Michael E. Ruane
March 2, 2015

Over the past three decades, the Wall has become a hallowed spot, a place of pilgrimage, homage and reconciliation. Now, some of the 400,000 items left there over the years by visitors are being selected for display in the new $115 million Vietnam War education center planned for a site nearby.

The black and white snapshot of the seven enemy soldiers was left in a box at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial with a two-page letter.

The writer explained how he had grabbed the picture from the knapsack of a dead North Vietnamese soldier after cursing him, kicking him and firing into his corpse in a fit of rage.

The veteran, who was 20 at the time, in 1969, had lost a close friend in battle six days earlier, and his outfit had just ambushed and killed 40 enemy soldiers, including this one, in a “turkey shoot.”

Forty-two years later, the former “grunt” came to the Wall in Washington on a chilly fall morning. He put down the box and, weeping, read his letter aloud.

“I come here today in sadness and humility, the arc of my life having transformed me from the angry young man who desecrated your body to an older man seeking peace. . . . Please forgive me, my brother, and rest in peace.”
read more here
Linked from Stars and Stripes

VFW Wants Action From Congress Over Sequestration

VFW Says Ending Sequestration is Top 2016 Priority
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
Capitol Hill
Mar 03, 2015


"Everyone is against the sequester but no one has yet proposed legislation to end it," said Joe Davis, the VFW's national spokesman.
Members of the nation's oldest veterans' service organization will be lobbying to end sequestration this week when they appear before congressional committees and meetings with lawmakers in their offices.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars has a number of military- and veteran-related issues to talk up, but its top mission is to rid Washington of the automatic, across-the-board budget cuts that are scheduled to go into effect on Oct. 1 if Congress fails to pass a budget.

"Our members -- all voting constituents -- will use this face-to-face opportunity [with Congress] to demand ... an end to the sequester," VFW National Commander John W. Stroud said. With the U.S. still at war, the cuts required under the sequester will devastate military readiness, homeland security, the quality-of-life of military families and veterans, he said.

The VSO leadership and an estimated 500 members gather in Washington annually to confer on veterans and defense issues and lobby Congress for them.

VFW officials will testify before joint sessions of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees on Wednesday and Thursday, where they will make their case for proper benefits and healthcare funding for the Veterans Affairs Department.

The group's 2016 priorities list also seeks improved interoperability between VA and Defense Department records, continued safeguarding of the Post-9/11 GI Bill and for employment programs. The group's priorities also extend to defense and homeland security spending.

The sequester, officially the Budget Control Act, should be ended to "ensure defense funding supports quality of life programs for servicemembers and families, training and readiness, troop end strength and equipment needs," the organization said.
read more here

Lawsuit After Navy Yard Shooting Shows Failures

Navy Yard Shooting Lawsuit Moved out of Florida 
Broward Palm Beach Times
By Chris Joseph
Feb. 19 2015

The original lawsuit pointed out several multi-million dollar contracts The Experts, Inc. has had with the U.S. Special Operations Command and U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. The suit also names the U.S. Navy, the Department of Veterans Affairs and two defense contractors as defendants. The family has been seeking $37.5 million in damages.

photo: United States Department of the Navy (CCTV), FBI via Wikimedia Commons CCTV footage of Aaron Alexis on September 16, 2013

The lawsuit filed by the family of Florida resident Mary DeLorenzo Knight, one of the victims slain by Aaron Alexis during the Washington Navy Yard massacre in 2013, has been ordered out of Florida by a federal judge. The suit, filed in December 2013, alleges negligence by the government. 

Alexis, who had been contracted by Fort Lauderdale-based The Experts Inc., had access to the building in the Naval Yard in Washington D.C.

On September 16, Alexis shot and killed DeLorenzo and twelve others before he was killed during a standoff with police.

DeLorenzo Knight's sister, Patricia DeLorenzo, filed the lawsuit against the government in Tampa, but U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday ordered it transferred out of the state to Washington, D.C. since the shooting took place there.

DeLorenzo's suit argues that, prior to the shootings, Alexis had been behaving erratically, but that The Experts Inc. failed to report his behavior to the U.S. Navy.

DeLorenzo's family is the first of the victims' families to come forth with a lawsuit of this kind since the tragedy, saying that the government also failed to give Alexis -- who suffered from mental problems -- the proper security clearance.

The suit claims the VA never treated Alexis's mental illness when he was admitted to a VA E.R. for insomnia a month before the shootings. He had also been arrested multiple times for post-traumatic stress disorder, anger management and alcohol abuse.
read more here

Prosecutor Says Veteran Attempted Suicide By Cop

Retired Army Veteran Charged With Threatening Shooting at U.S. Capitol
NBC Washington
Feb 5, 2015

Bogoslavski, of Cheverly, Maryland, served in the U.S. Army for nine years and retired in March 2013, authorities said. He completed two tours in Iraq and a tour in Afghanistan.

A retired Army veteran allegedly threatened to shoot his wife and other people at the U.S. Capitol, where his wife works, and said he wanted "to die [by] suicide by cop," federal prosecutors said Thursday.

On Monday, Michael Bogoslavski, 33, texted threats to his wife, a Senate staffer, telling her that he planned to bring guns to her workplace and shoot her and others who got in his way, authorities said.

"Gun in each hand ... someone is going to be greaving [sic] for their family members today, including my family," the text messages read. "I'm going to come up there and shoot everyone in my [expletive] way]."

The employee later called Capitol Police. While the employee was speaking to them, Bogoslavski allegedly called the employee's cellphone and made more threats to shoot people and "to die [by] suicide by cop," federal prosecutors said.

Capitol Police alerted local law enforcement, and the Cheverly Police Department found Bogoslavski at his home. He was taken to a hospital, released the next day and then arrested.
read more here

US Attorney Nominee, Sister of Late Navy SEAL

Loretta Lynch keeps her late Navy SEAL brother's memory alive during attorney general confirmation hearings
Although her big brother has been dead since 2009, President Obama’s nominee for U.S. attorney general found a way for him to be by her side during her confirmation hearing last week when she brought his Navy SEAL trident medal with her to face the Senate Judiciary Committee.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
BY DAN FRIEDMAN , BILL HUTCHINSON

Published: Saturday, January 31, 2015

Loretta Lynch has her own Navy SEAL watching her back — from heaven.

On Wednesday, Loretta Lynch honored Lorenzo during her Capitol Hill hearing, telling senators she brought his Navy SEAL trident medal with her 'to ensure I have both my brothers with me today.'

Although her big brother has been dead since 2009, President Obama’s nominee for U.S. attorney general found a way for him to be by her side during her confirmation hearing last week when she brought his Navy SEAL trident medal with her to face the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“That was our son,” Lynch’s proud mother, Lorine, said of the family’s military hero.

She said Loretta Lynch, 55, and her two brothers, Lorenzo, and the Rev. Leonzo Lynch, a church pastor in Charlotte, N.C., pushed each other as kids to be great.

“They were all very close,” Lorine Lynch of Durham, N.C., a retired school librarian, told the Daily News. “One helped the other in reading and competing.”

On Wednesday, Loretta Lynch honored Lorenzo during her Capitol Hill hearing, telling senators she brought his Navy SEAL trident medal with her “to ensure I have both my brothers with me today.”

Her brother Leonzo beamed with pride as he attended the hearing with their father, the Rev. Lorenzo Lynch Sr., and about 30 family members and friends.

“He told us at least a year before that the VA Hospital was not giving good medical service,” the father said. “And we didn’t believe him . . . We thought he was using it as an excuse not to go.”

A national audit of the hospital in 2014 confirmed the younger Lynch was right. The audit, spurred by patient complaints at VA hospitals across the country, showed employees at the Durham facility falsified records from 2009 to 2012 to cover up shoddy treatment, including making veterans wait an average of 104 days for medical appointments.

read more here

Ashton Carter, the former second-in-command may replace Hagel

Meet Chuck Hagel's expected replacement as Defense Secretary
CNN
By Jamie Crawford and Barbara Starr
December 2, 2014

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Sources said Tuesday that DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson is no longer considered
The White House has struggled to find a successor for Chuck Hagel as Defense Secretary
The new frontrunner is Ashton Carter, a former Pentagon official with years of DOD
experience

Washington (CNN) -- Ashton Carter, the former second-in-command at the Pentagon, appears to be the top choice to replace outgoing Secretary Chuck Hagel.

Barring any last minute complications, Ash Carter will be President Barack Obama's choice as the new Secretary of Defense, several U.S. administration officials told CNN.

An administration official had said that Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, a former General Counsel at the Pentagon, was also still on the list of possibilities, but on Tuesday morning, sources said Johnson was no longer being considered. The prospect of an additional confirmation hearing for Johnson's replacement if he were to move to the Pentagon as the Senate switches to Republican control would have been problematic for the White House.

Carter, who served as Deputy Defense Secretary under both Leon Panetta and Hagel, would bring a wide range of experience to a department confronting multiple crises in the Middle East and preparing to enter a new phase in Afghanistan as the NATO combat mission ends.

Carter's ability to hit the ground running from his past experience at the Pentagon, in addition to the respect many senior military leaders have for him are seen as major benefits to winning confirmation should Obama nominate him.
read more here

Vietnam veterans remember those who didn't make it back

At the Vietnam wall, veterans remember those who didn't make it back
Stars and Stripes
By C.J. Lin
Published: November 11, 2014

"The wall should serve as a reminder for all to support the nation’s veterans — something that those returning from Vietnam didn’t find" said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam veteran and the first enlisted combat veteran to lead the Defense Department.

Veterans Day 2014 at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

C.J. LIN/STARS AND STRIPES

WASHINGTON — Some came to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial bearing flowers and wreaths to honor the dead. One man also came with years of survivor’s guilt.

Marine Corps veteran Woody Postle made a familiar pilgrimage to the Wall on Veterans Day, to see the granite engraved names and pay his respects to 15 men he knew and another three dozen who served with him in Vietnam in the 1st Battalion, 9th Marines. Among them was Pfc. Gerald G. Broussard, whom Postle believes died in his place.

“We were loading on a chopper to go on an operation,” Postle said. “I got placed on the chopper and then they pulled me off the chopper and placed him on the chopper, because he was a machine gunner and they wanted a gun on the ground. And they got shot down.”

That was May 10, 1969, over Quang Tri province. Five of Postle’s guys were killed when the CH-46 helicopter went down. It wasn’t until 2007, after decades of wrestling with the guilt, that Postle finally gathered enough nerve to call Broussard’s mother.

“She talked and I cried,” said Postle, tearing up at the memory. “I said, ‘I’m so sorry Gerry died and I lived.’ And she said, ‘Don’t worry about it, it was Gerald’s time. It wasn’t your time.’ She actually forgave me. And that meant a lot.

“It took me 40 years to call,” Postle said. “Because what do you say to a mother that maybe her son died in your place?”

Postle was among thousands of veterans who visited the wall Tuesday to pay tribute to the fallen and find camaraderie with others who served. Reunions were taking advantage of former brothers-in-arms being in town, and it was also a way for supporters to thank troops for their service.
read more here

Fence Jumper at White House Captured

Man apprehended after jumping White House fence
The Associated Press
DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Oct 22nd 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) - A 23-year-old Maryland man was in the custody Wednesday night after he climbed over the White House fence and was swiftly apprehended on the North Lawn by uniformed Secret Service agents and their dogs.

The incident came about a month after a previous White House fence jumper sprinted across the same lawn, past armed uniformed agents and entered the mansion before he was felled in the ceremonial East Room and taken into custody.

That embarrassing Sept. 19 incident preceded the disclosure of other serious Secret Service breaches in security for President Barack Obama and ultimately led to Julia Pierson's resignation as director of the agency after 18 months on the job.

Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary said a man he identified as Dominic Adesanya of Bel Air, Maryland, climbed the north fence line at about 7:16 p.m. and was taken into custody immediately by uniformed agents and K-9 teams that constantly patrol the grounds. Adesanya was unarmed at the time of his arrest, Leary said. Charges were pending.

Two dogs were taken to a veterinarian for injuries sustained during the incident, Leary added.
read more here

Inside Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery

Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery Offers Tragic Testimony to America's Most Recent Wars
Improvised explosive devices have transformed battle—and disrupted one of the central rituals of grieving, author says.
National Geographic
Simon Worrall
for National Geographic
PUBLISHED OCTOBER 21, 2014

Photo of Mary McHugh lies at the gravesite of her fiancee.
On May 27, 2007—Memorial Day—Mary McHugh mourns her dead fiancé, Sgt. James Regan, in Arlington National Cemetery's Section 60. Regan had been killed by an IED explosion in February in Iraq.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN MOORE, GETTY

It's a tiny piece in a much larger jigsaw puzzle. No famous poets or presidents are buried there. No admirals or generals. Instead Section 60 in Arlington National Cemetery, just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., is the final resting place of the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in America's most recent wars, especially Iraq and Afghanistan.

The emotions it inspires, intensified every November 11 on Veterans Day, are raw. Its stories, heartbreaking.

Robert M. Poole, a former executive editor of National Geographic, spent several years listening to those stories for his new book, Section 60: Where War Comes Home. Speaking from his home in Vermont, he explains why he wanted to commemorate this patch of hallowed ground, why it takes years of practice to fold a ceremonial flag, and why Section 60 is one of the few places in America where it's considered normal to talk to the dead.
read more here

Veterans Still Not Having Transition Help from Military to Veteran

New study finds veterans struggle in transition to civilian life
Advocates call for holistic approach to vet health
KJRH 2 News
RACHEL QUESTER
OCT 7, 2014

Rep. Murphy has authored a bill to overhaul how the U.S. treats the entire mental health system. Murphy says the bill, Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis, aims to provide treatment before tragedy, especially when it comes to helping veterans. The bill is still in committee.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

WASHINGTON D.C. - Some people look at the military veteran Omar Gonzalez who jumped the White House fence recently and say: if only we had a higher fence. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., the only practicing psychologist in Congress, looks at the incident and says, “there was a need for treatment for this man, and he couldn’t get it.”

If a new study by the School of Social Work at the University of Southern California is any indication, Murphy has the right response.

The circumstances service members face upon leaving the military are, to say the least, very bleak.

Nearly two-thirds of veterans are unprepared for civilian life, the study says, and nearly eight in ten do not have a job lined up. Around 40 percent do not have a place to live, and many leave active duty with untreated physical or mental issues. In fact, the study found that about one-third have contemplated suicide.

The study focused only on veterans returning home to Los Angeles County, but an author of the study, retired Army colonel and USC professor Carl Castro, argues that these results can apply on a national level.
read more here

Vietnam Veterans Plaza will honor Jan C. Scruggs

Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Plaza to honor Jan Scruggs, Founder and President of VVMF, with Tenth Annual Phelps Award
NEW YORK and WASHINGTON
Oct. 6, 2014

PRNewswire-USNewswire

The Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Plaza will honor Jan C. Scruggs, founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF), as the tenth annual honoree of the Phelps Award. The Phelps Award recognizes outstanding individuals who have distinguished themselves by bringing exemplary honor and support to veterans, and especially Vietnam Veterans.

"It is with a great sense of admiration that the Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Plaza board of directors names Jan Scruggs as the 2014 recipient of the Phelps Award which recognizes outstanding individuals who bring honor to our veterans in an exemplary way," said Harry Bridgwood, Chairman of the Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Plaza. "Jan is truly deserving of this award for his outstanding dedication to honoring Vietnam veterans, begun over three decades ago, and his unwavering and ongoing commitment to honor America's legacy of military service, our veterans and those who are serving today."

"It is quite an honor to be chosen for this award amongst such a distinguished group of previous award winners. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial welcomed home Vietnam veterans in 1982 and today my mission continues with the campaign to build the Education Center at The Wall. The Center will teach future generations about America's legacy of service and make sure that the faces and stories of our heroes are never forgotten. When the Center is built, Vietnam veterans will welcome home the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, who will also be honored there," said Scruggs.

Scruggs was a wounded and decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, having served in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade of the U.S. Army. In 1979, he conceived the idea of building the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., as a tribute to all who served during one of the longest wars in American history. Today, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is among the most visited memorials in the nation's capital. Scruggs launched the effort with $2,800 of his own money and gradually gained the support of other Vietnam veterans in persuading Congress to provide a prominent location on federal government property somewhere in Washington, D.C. The site chosen was on the National Mall near the Lincoln Memorial.

As president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, the nonprofit organization created to build and maintain the Memorial, Scruggs headed up the effort that raised $8.4 million and saw the Memorial completed in just two years. It was dedicated on November 13, 1982, during a week-long national salute to Vietnam veterans in the nation's capital. Scruggs continues to lead VVMF as it enters a new phase in its mission to remember those who sacrificed in Vietnam: building the Education Center at The Wall. The Education Center will show the photos and tell the stories of those who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Vietnam War, as well as celebrate the values embodied by American service members in all of our nation's wars.

The Phelps Award was designed by artist John Phelps, a Navy veteran who served during the Vietnam War. In 2003, John Phelps began working with the Friends of Vietnam Veterans Plaza on the award, resulting in the creation of a sculpted replica of a Vietnam era battle helmet. The battle helmet is mounted on a handcrafted green glass-block, inscribed with excerpts from the "letters home," also engraved on the New York City Vietnam Veterans Memorial located in the Plaza at 55 Water Street.

The Friends of Vietnam Veterans Plaza named their Honoree of the Year Award to recognize the service of John Phelps and his son, Marine Corps Lance Corporal Chance Russell Phelps. Chance was killed in action while conducting combat operations west of Baghdad on April 9th 2004. He was nineteen years old.
read more here

The Wall

"If you are able, save for them a place inside of you and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go.

Be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not have always. Take what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own.

And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind."

Major Michael Davis O'Donnell
1 January 1970
Dak To, Vietnam
Listed as KIA February 7, 1978

President Obama Dedicates American Veterans Disabled For Life Memorial

Full Speech Video On October 5, 2014, President Obama delivered remarks at the dedication of the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial.

Joe Bacani has become the face of disabled American veterans

War hero shocked, humbled to be featured on veterans memorial
New York Post
By Maureen Callahan
October 5, 2014

The American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial, located south and west of the United States Capitol, will be dedicated on Sunday, October 5. New Yorker Joe Bacani is featured on the memorial.
Photo: Ron Sachs / CNP

Without ever meaning to, Joe Bacani has become the face of disabled American veterans.

He had been discharged from the Army in 2007 after taking sniper fire in Iraq and spending weeks at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in a wheelchair, learning how to walk again. A few years later, he got a package in the mail. Inside was a letter detailing the ongoing construction of a memorial dedicated to disabled vets. Also inside was a photo taken of Bacani in his wheelchair after he had just been awarded the Purple Heart. Would he allow this image to be used on a wall?

“I remember what I was thinking when that photo was taken,” Bacani says. “Half of me was like, ‘Hurry up and take this photo. I can’t wait till this ceremony’s over.’ And the other half of me was thinking, ‘What am I going to do? How am I going to move on?’ ”
read more here