Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News – March 26, 2013

Veterans! Here’s your Top 10 News stories of the day compiled from the latest sources

We encourage you to browse our list so that you can take what you want and keep what you need

1. Top military images for 2012.  The Military Photographer of the Year competition was judged last week at the Defense Information School at Fort Meade, Md. These images were selected as this year’s best from 11 categories.
    
2. Vietnam vets finally get their day, as Ohio holds first holiday to honor war’s soldiers.  Four decades after American troops left Vietnam, Ohio is officially welcoming them home. The state’s first Vietnam Veterans Day is set for Saturday, but all the commemorative events will happen before then to avoid conflicts with Easter weekend.
    
3.  Marine’s mother leads effort to send supplies to overseas platoon.  Thousands of miles from home and risking their lives to keep this country safe, the pressure borne on the backs of military servicemen and women can be daunting. But nothing can lift their spirits quite like receiving letters and care packages from home.
    
4. World War II submariners remember their days at sea.  Jack Hoenes and his comrades who served on submarines during World War II know the number. Fifty-two. That is how many submarines sunk or were missing during the war. For Hoenes, the number includes a submarine that could have taken his life.
    
5.  Navy veteran named Florida’s volunteer firefighter of the year.  A veteran Navy flier whose lifelong passion for firefighting saw him volunteer with fire departments as he rose in the ranks from Annapolis through to Jacksonville and Washington, D.C., is Florida’s Volunteer Firefighter of the Year.
    
6. Japanese village honors US airmen killed in WWII.  Many Japanese would prefer not to dredge up the painful history of World War II, especially the American bombers that rained fear and destruction from above. But a small rural community is not only dredging up those memories, it is honoring the crews of two B-29s that crashed here.
    
7. Europe training deployments survive budget ax.  Tightening defense budgets will not derail a U.S. Army plan to deploy soldiers from the States to train with European allies, the Army’s top soldier in Europe said Monday.
    
8. Veterans Affairs boss: ‘No veteran should have to wait for claims … CNN Political Ticker (Video):  CNN’s Kevin Liptak reports on the 1:16 minute video of Secretary Eric Shinseki on State of the Union. The mountain of benefits claims at the Department of Veterans Affairs is a result of an outdated paper process and new levels of complexity in returning troops’ cases, the agency’s boss said in an interview Sunday.
9. Eric Shinseki, Veterans Affairs Secretary, Says … Huffington Post (AP): Although the number of pending veterans’ disability claims keep soaring, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki on Sunday said he’s committed to ending the backlog in 2015 by replacing paper with electronic records.
10. Called to duty, then buried in paperwork – State of the Union.  CNN State of the Union (Video):  In an 8:06 minute video, CNN’s Candy Crowley interviews Tom Tarantino from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) and Peter Gaytan from the American Legion in response to Secretary Eric Shinseki’s interview earlier that morning with Candy Crawley on the Backlog.

Have You Heard?

Finding a Purpose Through Tragedy.  Editor’s Note: This is the fifth essay in a 10-part Women’s History Month series entitled, Honoring Our Nation’s Women Veterans. In February, we asked readers to submit essays about their time in service or women who have served our country. …  Read More →