VFW Magazine articles from June 2002

VFW Magazine archives from June 2002

Keeping the flame alive: America's sense of unity and purpose must prevail for the long-term if the nation is to see the terrorism war through to victory. (Sustaining Patriotism).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Flag Day is an occasion for proudly displaying the national banner. July 4th is traditionally a time for fireworks. These special days are when we, as a people, celebrate the liberties Americans should cherish. Grand talk and political speeches...

Hezbollah: knowing our enemies. (mail call).(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2002... It was heartening to read two fine articles on Islamic terrorism--"Lebanese Madman Leaves Trail of Terror" by Kenneth R. Timmerman and "Forgotten Front: Lebanon--in the April issue. These articles provided an excellent introduction to the...

Airmen ground troops overlooked. (mail call).(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2002... Re: "Airmen on the Ground" (April). Just a reminder that Tactical Air Control Party members perform close air support functions, calling in air strikes, artillery and even naval gunfire." They live and fight with U.S. Army combat units, as they...

Tribute to minesweeper sailors. (mail call).(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2002... I was aboard the USS Pledge on Oct. 12, 1950. We ended up in the middle of a minefield, struck a mine in the forward engine room and were then hit by a North Korean shore battery shell. After abandoning ship, we spent about 2 1/2 hours in the...

Saga of the St. Paul. (mail call).(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2002... As mentioned in your minesweeper story, the USS St. Paul lost 30 sailors to a powder fire on April 21, 1952, off Wonsan. Though they were not killed in combat, they died while actively engaged in combat operations. All 30 men were killed in...

U.S. Navy's greatest postwar accident. (mail call).(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2002... While the losses aboard the USS Walke, Magpie and St. Paul were certainly significant, they were far below the death tally suffered by the USS Hobson 50 years ago on April 26, 1950. When the USS Wasp collided with the destroyer-minesweeper...

Republic of Korea Medal update. (Now hear this: brief news items of interest to veterans and their families).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Randolph Air Force Base, which processes requests for the Korean War Service Medal awarded by the South Korean government in Seoul, mails about 500 medals/certificates a week. Some 122,000 have been shipped to date. Approximately 3,500...

Army Special Forces turns 50. (Now hear this: brief news items of interest to veterans and their families).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... With special operations troops the focus of so much attention in the war on terrorism, it only seems appropriate that Army Special Forces is celebrating its 50th anniversary this June. Founded June 19, 1952, as the 10th Special Forces...

U.S. Korea Defense Service Medal still alive in Congress despite Pentagon inaction. (Now hear this: brief news items of interest to veterans and their families).(Korea Defense Service Medal Act waiting for enough votes in both houses to pass)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Senate bill S. 999 and House bill H.R. 1935 (the Korea Defense Service Medal Act) is making steady progress in Congress. As of mid-April, the legislation had 161 cosponsors in the House and 33 in the Senate. The co-sponsors include key...

Travel site sources for military buffs. (Now hear this: brief news items of interest to veterans and their families).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... If you are a military, history buff who likes to tour historic sites nationwide, there is a set of guidebooks you need to know about. They are published by McFarland Publishers, Jefferson, N.C., (800) 253-2187: American Revolutionary War...

Korean War Armistice Day. (Events to Look For).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... * Korean War Armistice Day: July 27 at 10 a.m. at the Korean War Veterans Memorial on the Washington Mall. Contact information: J. Norbert Reiner, Coordinating Committee, in McLean, Va., (703) 893-6313.

National Bell Ringing Ceremony. (Events to Look For).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... * National Bell Ringing Ceremony: Let Freedom Ring at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia at 2 p.m. EDT on July 4. Encourages similar ceremonies nationwide on Independence Day. For more details, contact: Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the...

Recognizing military firefighters. (Now hear this: brief news items of interest to veterans and their families).(Brief Article)(Editorial)
June 1, 2002... Of all the jobs in the armed forces that have entailed loss of life, few compare with military firefighters for lack of public recognition. So we thought it might be a nice idea to find out more about their sacrifices. If you served in a...

Canadian government anti-military? (Now hear this: brief news items of interest to veterans and their families).(reactions to death of Canadian soldiers during War on Terrorism)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Four Canadian soldiers' deaths in Afghanistan prompted Angst in some circles there. In response, Canadian journalist Peter Worthington wrote: "The government has become almost pathologically anti-military... Our peacekeeping heritage is...

Job-training bill urges accountability. (Employment).(it would make the Department of Labor responsible for helping veterans find jobs)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... A bill pending in the House would hold the Department of Labor more accountable for helping veterans find jobs. The lobs for Veterans Act--H.R. 4015--was introduced March 20 by Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), chairman of the House Veterans...

Web site offers job licensing help. (Employment).(www.armyeducation.army.mil/cool )(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... An Army Web site can help veterans transfer the skills they acquired in the military, to gainful employment in the private sector. Launched in April, Credentialing Opportunities On-Line at www.armyeducation.army.mil/cool was designed to help...

Bills could hurt veterans preference when applying for employment.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Two bills pending in the Senate could weaken laws favoring veterans for civil service employment. If approved, the bills would grant federal managers more "flexibility" in hiring employees. S. 1612 and S. 1639 would allow federal agencies...

Gulf War POWs sue Iraq. (Security).(charges of mistreatment and torture lobbed against the Hussein's regime)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Seventeen Gulf War POWs filed suit in a Washington, D.C., district court in April against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The suit, which also names Iraq and the Iraqi Intelligence Service as defendants, seeks at least $25 million each for the...

National Defense Service Medal issued. (Security).(all enlisted men who served during and after the September 11, terrorist attack, ellegible)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... The Pentagon announced May 1 that all active-duty troops serving on or after Sept. 11, 2001, are eligible for the National Defense Service Medal. The dosing date for the medal's eligibility period was left open indefinitely. "The...

Pentagon relocates MIA family update. (Security).(conference moved to New York city)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... The Pentagon has announced it is moving the location of a meeting for New York families of MIAs. Originally scheduled for Sept. 20-21 in Albany, N.Y., the update session will be held the same weekend in New York City. All veterans and family...

Gulf vets seek frozen Iraqi assets. (Legislation).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... A legislator's five-year "crusade" could give Gulf War vets first priority on more than $1.6 billion in Iraqi assets frozen by the United States after the war. H.R. 4573--the Gulf War Veterans and other Iraqi Claims Protection Act of 2002--was...

Navy, Marine WWII POWs get back pay. (Service).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... World War II sailors and Marines who missed out on promotions while they were held as POWs are eligible to receive back pay. The compensation will be determined using the amount the sailor or Marine would have been paid based on World War II...

Attack on America: Dutch Harbor 60 years later: this may come as a surprise, but the nation was attacked twice during WWII. The second time was at the "Pearl Harbor of the North" in the Aleutian Islands. The National Park Service is making sure we all remember with a new visitor's center.
June 1, 2002... Japan staged not one, but two audacious attacks on U.S. territory during World War II. On June 3-4, 1942--a full six months after Pearl Harbor--Japanese forces again hit American turf, shocking the nation. Their carrier-based bombers and...

`Silent option': Navy's elite SEALs: for 40 years, from Vietnam to Afghanistan, the SEALs have combatted the nation's enemies, be they Communists or terrorists. Though small in numbers, their lethal efficiency in combat is legendary. (War On Terrorism).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... As they watched for sign of movement at an abandoned airfield 60 miles southwest of Kandahar, Afghanistan, in November 2001, the small team of Americans endured the worst of nature's elements. These observers, part of a 16-man SEAL platoon,...

Green Berets now in Georgia: U.S. Special Forces are training Georgian soldiers to fight radical Muslims. The mission could benefit other U.S. interests as well. (War On Terrorism).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... President George Bush called the May deployment of some 150 U.S. advisers to Georgia the latest front in the U.S. war on terrorism. Much like their fellow soldiers in the Philippines, U.S. Special Forces are teaching Georgian soldiers how to...

VA vows to end claims backlog: automation, teamwork and more staff are key to reducing the 650,000 VA compensation claims clogging the system. (Cover Story).
June 1, 2002... Calling it his "top issue," VA Secretary Anthony J. Principi has pledged to reduce the more than 650,000 benefits claims now mired in the agency's system. According to VA, it takes an average of nine months to rule on a claim. Principi's goal...

Continental Army veterans: from outcasts to icons: despite contemporary popular history, our Revolutionary War veteran-forefathers were not always perceived by the public as heroes. This is a sobering reminder during this primetime of patriotism.
June 1, 2002... Since Sept. 11, 2001, America's surge of patriotism has inspired tributes to its professional soldiers and gratitude toward veterans, heightened by images of heroism and sacrifice in films depicting combat in Somalia and Vietnam. Today's...

Assaulting `suicide Hill': in June and July 1952, outfits of the 45th and 2nd Infantry divisions fought a frustrating fray for Hill 266, better known as Old Baldy. (Korean War).(Korean War episodes)
June 1, 2002... As the summer of 1952 approached, the U.N. defensive line stretched 150 miles across the Korean Peninsula. It was an extensive system of bunkers, trenches, artillery emplacements and other fortifications solidifying its position well north of...

Tops in commemorating the Korean War: the Department of Arizona was the first to have all its Posts officially commemorate the Korean War. But South Dakota wasn't far behind. (Arizona And South Dakota Lead The Way).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... VFW Posts and Departments throughout the nation have joined the cause of honoring Korea veterans through the 50th anniversary of the Korean War commemoration, but none is so dedicated as the Departments of Arizona and South Dakota. ...

Seeking refuge at Benilde Hall: homeless veterans find the atmosphere of a Kansas City shelter most rewarding. It serves as a model for others to emulate.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Kenneth Pegue had it all. A firefighter for the Kansas City Fire Department, Pegue had a loving wife and two beautiful little daughters. He planned to retire from a rewarding career with the KCFD. Unfortunately, a poor choice of friends and...

Don't become an exercise dropout: want to get in better shape, but can't stick with any program? Try this advice.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Almost every day new reports are published attesting to the benefits of regular exercise. Physical activity builds strong bones, helps ward off chronic health problems such as arthritis and heart disease, and can even help to vanquish...

Three Civil War battlefields to see near Nashville: Stones River, Franklin and Nashville saw a great deal of bloodshed during this divisive war. Here's a look at some of the remaining landmarks.
June 1, 2002... America's South is rich in history. The Civil War divided the country, and battle scars scattered about the southern states tell the story best. From Stones River to the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee saw more than its fair share of the bloody...

VFW members keep the spirit of Flag Day alive. (VFW in action: VFW members and Posts demonstrating community service).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... In St. Johns, Mich., St. Johns Cemetery (formerly Mt. Rest) celebrates Flag Day with the help of Post 4113. In only a year's time, the Avenue of Flags has grown from 25 to nearly 350 flags. On Memorial Day 2001, Dave Miller, cemetery...

Campaign medal for Korean War a VFW qualifier for 52 years. (membership).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Korean War (1950-53) veterans have been eligible for VFW since November 1950. Veterans of Korea can take pride in being recipients of the Korean Service Medal (KSM), an award symbolizing honorable service and sacrifice in a full-scale war....

Reunions & claims.
June 1, 2002... REUNION COORDINATORS: To publicize your unit's reunion, fill out the form on page 40 of the February 2002 VFW magazine or print out a form from VFW's website: http://www.vfw.org/magazine/51.shtml. Send to VFW magazine, 406 W. 34th St., Suite...