Category Archives: veterans

Honor Our Veterans: November 11, 2012

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It Was Armistice Day (11th Month, 11th day, 11th Hour, 1918)

The treaty to end the War To End All Wars was signed on November 11th, at 11 AM, 1918. The day was to be celebrated from that time on as Armistice Day.

We know of course, World War I did not end all wars and another World War (WWII) would kill young and old alike from its beginning in 1939 until its end in 1945.

The following, taken from the website Military.com explains the history of Armistince Day and how it came to be Veterans Day:

Veterans Day, formerly known as Armistice Day, was originally set as a U.S. legal holiday to honor the end of World War I, which officially took place on November 11, 1918. In legislation that was passed in 1938, November 11 was “dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day.’” As such, this new legal holiday honored World War I veterans.

In 1954, after having been through both World War II and the Korean War, the 83rd U.S. Congress — at the urging of the veterans service organizations — amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word “Armistice” and inserting the word “Veterans.” With the approval of this legislation on June 1, 1954, Nov. 11 became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.

And so we do … honor our veterans, today November 11, 2012 and forward in time.

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1778-1943 poster, United States, World War II Artist Perlin, B. Publisher United States. Office of War Information Studio Name/Printer United States. Government Printing Office Historical period World War II

HERE FOR MORE VETERANS DAY POSTERS

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Speaker Of The House — Acting Like A Louse?

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Ronald Reagan lies in state in the United Stat...

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By Chuck Ring (GadaboutBlogalot ©2009 – 2011)

Quote Freely From The Article – Leave The Pseudonym Alone

Representative Boehner (R-OH) is acting like a boneheaded simpleton for not honoring a request to allow the last Doughboy to rest in repose in the Capital rotunda.  According to a report filed by the New York Daily News (NYDL) and their reporter Nina Mandell, Boehner, in consort with Senator Harry Reid,  has:

Two West Virginia senators and a documentary filmmaker are expressing their dismay after House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) blocked a movement to allow Frank Buckles‘ body to lay repose in the Capitol Rotunda.

Buckles, the last living American World War I veteran, died in West Virginia at the age of 110 last week. Shortly after his death, Sens. Jay Rockefeller and Joe Manchin III released statements urging Boehner to reconsider.

The story in NYDL does not report the reasoning by Boehner in not allowing the request, but in addition to the two senators above, Congresswoman Shirley Moore Capito (R-WV)  also made the request.  Did we mention that Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) joined with Boehner … he did.

Perhaps there is a justifiable rule against the body being placed in the rotunda or maybe Boehner  is just being a butthead.  You can read more regarding this subject by clicking the link just below and the related links found under it:

Read more from the complete story

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A Picture Is Worth … Words Escape Me

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SIMPLY BECAUSE SOME  IMAGES ARE PRICELESS AND BURNED INTO OUR MEMORIES


I DON’T KNOW THE MARINE WHO SENT THIS OUT, BUT THE FOLLOWING WAS ATTACHED WHEN I RECEIVED IT FROM AN OLD MARINE FRIEND:

 

“Congrats to Marine Bonnie Cox for sending out this outstanding poster.

I hope it gets sent around the world.”

 
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Conditions Added To Agent Orange And Other Herbicide Exposure Consideration

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By Chuck Ring (GadaboutBlogalot ©2009 – 2010)

Quote Freely From The Article – Leave The Pseudonym Alone

A friend advised me that the United States Department of  Veterans Affairs on August 30th published new rules which will allow certain Viet Nam Veterans to apply for compensation for two additional health conditions and expansion of another condition previously approved for disability compensation.  We regret the tardiness of our posting the information and because it is so important to those veterans and their families instead of posting a link we are posting the entire press release from the agency along with helpful links:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 30, 2010

VA Publishes Final Regulation to Aid Veterans Exposed to Agent Orange

VA Health Care and Benefits Provided for Many Vietnam Veterans

WASHINGTON – Veterans exposed to herbicides while serving in Vietnam and other areas will have an easier path to access quality health care and qualify for disability compensation under a final regulation that will be published on August 31, 2010 in the Federal Register by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The new rule expands the list of health problems VA will presume to be related to Agent Orange and other herbicide exposures to add two new conditions and expand one existing category of conditions.

“Last October, based on the requirements of the Agent Orange Act of 1991 and the Institute of Medicine’s 2008 Update on Agent Orange, I determined that the evidence provided was sufficient to award presumptions of service connection for these three additional diseases,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki.  “It was the right decision, and the President and I are proud to finally provide this group of Veterans the care and benefits they have long deserved.”

The final regulation follows Shinseki’s determination to expand the list of conditions for which service connection for Vietnam Veterans is presumed. VA is adding Parkinson’s disease and ischemic heart disease and expanding chronic lymphocytic leukemia to include all chronic B cell leukemias, such as hairy cell leukemia.

In practical terms, Veterans who served in Vietnam during the war and who have a “presumed” illness don’t have to prove an association between their medical problems and their military service.  By helping Veterans overcome evidentiary requirements that might otherwise present significant challenges, this “presumption” simplifies and speeds up the application process and ensure that Veterans receive the benefits they deserve.

The Secretary’s decision to add these presumptives is based on the latest evidence provided in a 2008 independent study by the Institute of Medicine concerning health problems caused by herbicides like Agent Orange.

Veterans who served in Vietnam anytime during the period beginning January 9, 1962, and ending on May 7, 1975, are presumed to have been exposed to herbicides.

More than 150,000 Veterans are expected to submit Agent Orange claims in the next 12 to 18 months, many of whom are potentially eligible for retroactive disability payments based on past claims. Additionally, VA will review approximately 90,000 previously denied claims by Vietnam Veterans for service connection for these conditions. All those awarded service-connection who are not currently eligible for enrollment into the VA healthcare system will become eligible.

This historic regulation is subject to provisions of the Congressional Review Act that require a 60-day Congressional review period before implementation. After the review period, VA can begin paying benefits for new claims and may award benefits retroactively for earlier periods. For new claims, VA may pay benefits retroactive to the effective date of the regulation or to one year before the date VA receives the application, whichever is later. For pending claims and claims that were previously denied, VA may pay benefits retroactive to the date it received the claim.

VA encourages Vietnam Veterans with these three diseases to submit their applications for access to VA health care and compensation now so the agency can begin development of their claims.

Individuals can go to a website at http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/AO/claimherbicide.htm to get an understanding of how to file a claim for presumptive conditions related to herbicide exposure, as well as what evidence is needed by VA to make a decision about disability compensation or survivors benefits.

Additional information about Agent Orange and VA’s services for Veterans exposed to the chemical is available at www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange.

The regulation is available on the Office of the Federal Register website at http://www.ofr.gov/.

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Today Is Veterans Day In The USA

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TODAY, NOVEMBER 12 2010, WILL BE CELEBRATED AS VETERANS DAY IN THE UNITED STATES. THE INFORMATION POSTED BELOW TELLS A TALE FROM A FAR DISTANT LAND.  A TALE ABOUT ONE PEOPLE’S LOVE AND DEDICATION TO PEOPLE WHO FOUND THEMSELVES IN A FOREIGN TOWN,  SAVING OR LIBERATING ITS PEOPLE.
THIS POSTING OF THE INFORMATION BELOW WILL HONOR OUR VETERANS, JUST AS THAT SMALL TOWN HAS HONORED THEM FOR AN UNBELIEVABLE NUMBER OF YEARS.  I HAVE NO IDEA WHO TO ATTRIBUTE ALL OF THE INFORMATIONAL TEXT AND THE BEAUTIFUL IMAGES FOUND BELOW.  FOR THAT I AM SORRY, BUT IF SOMEONE WILL LET ME KNOW WHO TO ACKNOWLEDGE FOR THIS GREAT INFORMATION, I WILL BE PLEASED TO ATTRIBUTE THEIR WORK.
Some of you will not be able to see the images below.  I apologize, but here is the link for the town web site, you’ll like it:
YOU’ BE ABLE TO ACCESS THE FESTIVITIES

Have you ever wondered if anyone in Europe remembers America’s sacrifice in World War II?  There is an answer in a small town in the Czech Republic, in the town called Pilsen (Plzen ).

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Every 5 years, Pilsen conducts the Liberation Celebration of  the City of Pilsen in the Czech Republic .
May 6th, 2010, marked the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Pilsen by General George Patton’s 3rd Army. Pilsen
is the town that every American should visit.  Why?  Because they love America and the American Soldier…

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Even 65 years later… by the thousands,

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The citizens of Pilsen came to say thank you.

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Lining  the streets of Pilsen for miles -

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From the large crowds,

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to quiet reflective moments,

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including this American family’s private time to honor and remember their American hero.

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This is the crash site of Lt. Virgil P. Kirkham, the last recorded American USAAF pilot killed in Europe during WWII. It was Lt. Kirkham’s 82nd mission and one that he volunteered to go on. At the time, this 20-year-old pilot’s P-47 Thunderbolt plane was shot down, a young 14-year-old Czech girl, Zdenka Sladkova, was so moved by his sacrifice she made a vow to care for him and his memory. For 65 straight years, Zdenka, now 79-years-old, took on the responsibility to care for Virgil’s crash site and memorial near her home.

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On May 4th, she was recognized by the Mayor of Zdenka’s home town of Trhanova , Czech Republic, for her sacrifice and extraordinary effort to honor this American hero.

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Another chapter in this important story… the Czech people are teaching their children aboutAmerica’s sacrifice for their freedom.

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American Soldiers, young and old, are the ”Rock Stars” these children and their parents want autographs from.

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Yes, Rock Stars! As they patiently waited for his autograph, the respect this little Czech boy and his father have for our troops serving today was heartwarming and inspirational.

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The Brian LaViolette Foundation established The Scholarship of Honor in tribute to General George S. Patton and the American Soldier,past and present.

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Each year, a different military hero will be honored in tribute to General Patton’s memory and their mission to liberate Europe . This award will be presented to a graduating senior who will be entering the military or a form of community service such as fireman, policeman, teaching or nursing – - – a cause greater than self. The student will be from 1 of the 5 high schools in Pilsen, Czech Republic .

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The first award will be presented in May 2011 in honor of Lt. Virgil Kirkham, that young 20-year-old P-47 pilot killed 65 years ago in the final days of WWII.

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Presenting Virgil’s award will be someone who knows the true meaning of service and sacrifice… someone who looks a
lot like Virgil. Marion Kirkham, Virgil’s brother, who himself served during WWII in the United States Army Air Corps!!!

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In closing… Here is what the city of Pilsen thinks of General Patton’s grandson. George Patton Waters (another Rock Star!) we’re proud to say, serves on Brian’s Foundation board.

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And it’s front page news over there. not buried in the middle of the social section.

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Brigadier General Miroslav Zizka – 1st Deputy Chief of Staff, Ministry of Defense, Czech Armed Forces.

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Notice the flags? Share this email with your family and friends. Every American should hear this story.

 

 

 

 

Shaggy Dogs Story

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Fish and chips.
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By Chuck Ring (GadaboutBlogalot ©2009 – 2010)

Quote Freely From The Article – Leave The Pseudonym Alone

I’ve always enjoyed shaggy dog stories.  I suppose it is because I love the sound of contemptible moans and seeing the backside of my victims as they scurry away before they are subjected to another of my tails, er tales.  Anyway, if you are unlucky enough to be around me for any length of time, you will be attacked by a shaggy dog story.  Lucky for you (?) here are two of my favorites.

FIRST POOCH:

Ghandi walked barefoot everywhere, to the point that his feet became quite thick and hard. Even when he wasn’t on a hunger strike, he did not eat much and became quite thin and frail. He also was a devout Hindu and quite a spiritual person. Furthermore, due to his diet, which consisted of mostly vegetables, he ended up with very bad breath. He became known as a super-calloused fragile mystic with extra halitosis.

SECOND PUPPY:

Graham Kerr, the Galloping Gourmet of television fame, ran out of recipes and decided that he would travel to Europe to seek new ones.  His first stop was at a fish and chips place.  He found the fish and chips to be absolutely beyond compare, and he asked the owner (after introducing himself) if the owner would share the recipe with him. The owner apologized, stating that he would if he could, but the recipe belonged to the monks in a monastery just up the street.  He told Kerr that the monks were sure to give Kerr the recipes if Kerr gave them an endorsement on his television show. Kerr paid hill ticket, left a tip and departed for the monastery.

Arriving at the monastery, Kerr saw that the massive wooden door to the fortress-like facility had a huge wrought iron knocker.  No sooner had he knocked on the door, than the door screeched loudly open, and standing before Kerr was a diminutive man in a brown habit. Kerr feeling confident, said, “You are the fish friar.” “Absolutely not,” replied the small man, “I am the chip monk!”

NOW FOR THE REAL SHAGGY DOGS:

This story comes from CBS Television and tells of a soldier and his dogs in Afghanistan. The dogs looked as though they were mixed with all the dogs in the village in which they were found by the soldier. Nonetheless, they were nourished and loved and apparently from events which were yet to transpire, returned the love with licks and heroism.

I’ll have CBS finish the story:

Shaggy Dog Stories

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Remember The Huge Flap In The VA Under Bush

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Seal of the United States Department of Vetera...
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By Chuck Ring (GadaboutBlogalot ©2009 – 2010)

Quote Freely From The Article – Leave The Pseudonym Alone

We are talking here about the state of disrepair and other deficiencies at Walter Reed Army Medical Center while President Bush was still in office.  The main stream media had a cow and a couple of chickens overworking themselves to expose Bush’s culpability.  We aren’t saying Bush was absent of negligence.  He was the Commander In Chief (CIC) and has to accept that whatever went wrong under his command was directly or indirectly his responsibility.

Now we have a new CIC and a new Veterans Affairs Secretary, Eric Senseki, along with a fresh scandal involving up to 2000 veterans.  This time the veterans may have been exposed to HIV and hepatitis because of lax or non-existent sterilization processes.  The story was first reported by AP’s Jim Salter four days ago.  In the first paragraph of his report, Mr. Salter wrote:

ST. LOUIS — The Veterans Administration said Thursday that the chief of dental services at a St. Louis VA Medical Center has been placed on administrative leave after the hospital urged nearly 2,000 veterans to return for blood tests because inadequately sterilized equipment may have exposed them to viral infections during dental procedures.

Secretary Senseki has promised to conduct his own investigation over what went wrong, but members of the Veterans
Affairs Committee have begun their own inquiry into the matter.  In a report today from The Hill’s, The Blogging Room, and in article by Russell Berman it was said:

The Democratic chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee lambasted the Obama administration over its handling of an incident at a St. Louis VA center in which more than 1,800 veterans were told they may have been exposed to HIV.

“It’s outrageous, one, that this happens, but even worse is this secretive, almost cover-up mode that they go into when something like this happens,” Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.) said on CNN Monday.

The faulty procedures believed  the cause of the exposures were discovered over three months ago in March.  This delay has further angered  Representive Filner who expressed his opinion that it is disgraceful that Senseki was not informed of the problems until last week.

In closing the article went on to say:

Filner said the “only way you can get accountability is if there is someone who actually pays a price for this,” although he did not explicitly call for Shinseki to be fired.

The Veterans Affairs Committee is holding a hearing on the issue next week.

Here is the full AP article and here is the full The Hill Blogger article.

It will be interesting to see how this one turns out.  God Bless and protect the veterans who may have been exposed to potential infections.

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Saved Memories About Memorial Day For Memorial Day 2010

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POSTED AS A COMMUNITY SERVICE BY GADABOUT-BLOGALOT

THE FOLLOWING WAS OFFERED AS A PART OF VALLEY VIEW CHRISTIAN CHURCH’S WEEKLY UPDATE.  IT WAS SENT TO THE CONGREGATION ON MAY 28, 2010 BY THE PASTOR, BRANDON SHAFFER

A Note From Brandon

Memorial Day, perhaps more than any other holiday, was born of human necessity. Deep inside all of us lies a fundamental desire to make sense of life and our place in it and the world. What we have been given, what we will do with it and what we will pass to the next generation is all part of an unfolding history, a continuum that links one soul to another.

Abraham Lincoln pondered these thoughts in the late fall of 1863. His darkest fear was that he might well be the last president of the United States, a nation embroiled in the self-destruction of what he described as “a great civil war..testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.” He began his remarks with those words as he stood on the battlefield near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on November 19th of that year.

The minute’s speech that became known as Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address turned into what might be called the first observance of Memorial Day. Lincoln’s purpose that day was to dedicate a portion of the battlefield as a cemetery for the thousands of men, both living and dead, who consecrated that soil in the sacrifice of battle. Said Abraham Lincoln: “That from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause which they gave the last full measure of devotion…that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom…”

The next year, a pleasant Sunday in October of 1864 found a teenage girl, Emma Hunter, gathering flowers in a Boalsburg, Pennsylvania cemetery to place on the grave of her father. He was a surgeon who had died in service to the Union Army in that great Civil War. Nearby, Mrs. Elizabeth Meyer was strewing flowers upon the grave of her son Amos, a private who had fallen on the last day of the battle of Gettysburg. Emma respectfully took a few of her flowers and put them on the grave of Amos. Mrs. Meyer, in turn, laid some of her freshly cut blooms on the grave of Dr. Hunter. Both women felt a lightening of their burdens by this act of honoring each other’s loss, and agreed to meet again the next year. This time they agreed they would also visit the graves of those who had no one left to honor them.

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The Virtual Wall

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By Chuck Ring (GadaboutBlogalot ©2009 – 2010)

Quote Freely From The Article – Leave The Pseudonym Alone

I had not heard of  The Virtual Wall® until yesterday, when a Marine veteran

Faces Of Freedom

friend sent me the link, http://www.virtualwall.org/ to the website.  I have visited The Wall in our nation’s capitol and can only say that I had to stop several times as I walked the length of the The Wall to wipe the tears away and offer my thanks through silent tribute for the sacrifices given by those thousands of heroes represented there.

Now, as I will tour The Virtual Wall®, I am sure I will repeat the tears and the tribute.  I believe the person that started this beautiful and honorable site somehow knew that it would develop into memorials for individuals which would be treasured by the families, loved ones and dear friends of those who gave everything in a far distant land.

My purpose in posting this short article is to publicize the site in the hope that many more folks with blogs and websites will see fit to do the same.  Much of what I might say, were I more elegant in style and eloquent of word, has already been said in outpourings of love and appreciation.  I am taking the liberty of copying and posting the links to such information, along with links to other parts of the website, which will prove valuable to visitors to The Virtual Wall®.  Please check below for links of interest:

Please follow the links and any others which may be placed on the above pages as they are visited.

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More For Veterans In New Mexico

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Officially, Veterans Day was last week, but in my mind, every day should be a day for veterans. With that in mind, I am posting links to various benefits New Mexico veterans can seek.

Here’s the home page for New Mexico Department Of Veterans Services

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