Greetings good people.  Hope everyone is doing well.

Suicide Prevention Story Wins Award: Recently, a VA News segment on the Suicide Prevention Hotline received a 2011 People’s Telly Award for TV Programs and Segments. Watch the winning segment

Prayers and blessings for you and your loved ones and for our fantastic Troops and their loved ones everywhere.

Best.................Wayne

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Veterans News for Tuesday, May 31, 2011. Thanks as usual to Kevin Secor at VA HQ!

1.    Many benefits offered to military veterans.  Eagle Tribune  You could certainly do research on your own by accessing the Internet site www.vba.va.gov or going to your area library, but it is in your best interest to contact your local Veterans' Services Officer (VSO). Residents in every city and town in this ... 

2.    Miles City veteran Frank Stoltz remembers Black Death March.  Billings Gazette
The US Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 3500 Allied soldiers died in marches, the assumption being that many died on the winter marches at war's end. Often prisoners died for lack of medical care, Stoltz said. One soldier in Stoltz's group ... 

3.    Conditions dire for homeless veterans.  The Augusta Chronicle  About a third of the homeless population in the United States are veterans, according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Pain gave way to fear when he discovered his legs didn't work. Fear turned to frustration as secondary multiple sclerosis ... 

4.    'Lest we forget ...'.  Monitor  In 1868, the head of an organization of Union Civil War veterans established Decoration Day to decorate the graves of those who died during the US Civil War, according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs website. The day was designated as May 30 ... 

5.    OVDA drops mortgage rate.  Hermiston Herald  The Oregon Department of Veterans' Affairs (ODVA) has lowered its 30-year term fixed home mortgage rate to 4.125 percent to qualified veteran home buyers. A state of Oregon veteran benefit, the ORVET Home Loan Program is separate from the federal VA ... 

6.    Veterans urged to beware of benefits scams.  Pittsburgh Tribune-Review  "There are honest people out there" trying to do veterans a good turn, he said, while others are "clearly predatory." Scams targeting aging veterans are "something we see popping up," said state Veterans Affairs spokeswoman Joan Nissley, who was unable ... 

7.    Help Is Out There.  West Virginia MetroNews  He says if veterans have questions, they can call the Division of Veterans Affairs or their local VA offices. "Any veteran that can get in contact with their local veteran's service organization, that's a step in the right direction. 

8.    Website collects veterans' war experiences, plans Memorial Day publicity push.  New York Daily News  More than 215000 US veterans live in the city's five boroughs, according to data from the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Among them is Navy and Marine veteran Ismael Bruno, who joined TogetherWeServed.com in 2008 after returning from a tour in Iraq ... 

9.    Pilot project aids veterans in job search.  Kansas.com  11, 2001, is 21.9 percent, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. That compares to 9.1 percent for non-veterans. * There are more than 100000 homeless veterans nationwide, according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, with about 1.5 ... 

10.                       World War II veterans: The ranks are thinning, but still strong.  Pittsburgh Post Gazette
If projections from the US Department of Veterans Affairs are correct, it will be several decades before Americans will have to say farewell to the last veterans of World War II. About 2 million US veterans of that conflict remain from among the more ...

11.                       Scouts help to honor Union soldiers' memory.  Topeka Capital Journal  Family members requested a new marker from the US Department of Veterans Affairs. In the early years of the Memorial Day weekend program at Topeka Cemetery, the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War's approximate 30 Topeka members would nearly wear ... 

12.                       Veterans Affairs changes clinic plan.  The Register-Guard  The US Department of Veterans Affairs is looking for more land than originally proposed for its planned $40 million medical clinic in Eugene or Springfield, the agency said Friday, after announcing a new request for proposals on the ...

       13.                       Bergen Veterans Honored in Medal Ceremony.  Patch.com  Ralph Young, a Vietnam veteran from Mahwah, received a distinguished service medal. "It was wonderful," said Ronald Giles of Hasbrouck Heights. "Just wonderful. Very dignified." Giles received a New Jersey Distinguished Service Medal, the state's ... 

14.                       Fighting for Veteran Services as Need Grows.  Patch.com  They say this would serve the Department of Veterans Affairs and veterans' best interests, considering that New York State has one of the nation's highest veteran populations. Today, a VA spokeswoman confirmed what spokeswoman Nancy Winter told Patch ... 

15.                       Tracing the origins of Memorial Day.  Delmarva Now  According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, Memorial Day commemorates the men and women who died while in military service. As Memorial Day creates a three-day weekend for most, it is also viewed as the unofficial start of summer and is a time ... 

16.                       Holiday's mythic, mixed-up origins.  Access Atlanta  Some 25 places claim to have been the birthplace of Memorial Day in 1866, according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, with Georgia's own Macon and Columbus on the list. “Many of them [were] in the South, where most of the war dead were buried,” ... 

17.                       Honoring WWII vets in our midst.  MyCentralJersey.com  In 2010, New Jersey was home to 55400 World War II veterans; about half as many as there were in 2005, according to estimates from the US Department of Veteran Affairs. The servicemen and women who were 18 at the war's end, in 1945, are now 84. ... 

18.                       Ex-Marine Maj. Gen. to help city honor vets.  Northern Virginia Daily  ... which sets aside time to pay respects to servicemen who have died in war, traces back to after the Civil War. Decoration Day was established on May 5, 1868, to decorate the graves of fallen veterans, according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs. 

19.                       Stein Hospice honors vets with escort ceremony.  The Beacon  Stein is also a partner in “We Honor Veterans,” a national initiative launched last year by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, in collaboration with the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The program helps hospice professionals meet ... 

20.                       New motorcycle plate to honor vets.  Brattleboro Reformer  "These license plates are one way we can honor our veterans who have served our state proudly in protecting our freedom." State Rep. Michael Hebert, a Vernon Republican and Marine veteran, said since there are roughly 20 different specialty plates ... 

21.                       Local News Briefs: May 27, 2011.  Grand Junction Free Press  The trip is free for veterans, but guardians are asked to pay a fee of $950 to accompany the veteran and provide care. ACLU lawyers filed suit this week in federal district court against three Colo. State Patrol officers undefined and two training supervisors ... 

22.                       Local veteran awards state governor.  Anniston Star  502 Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) and member of the state Board of Veterans Affairs, recently presented Gov. Bentley an award for being the first Vietnam Veteran to reach the highest office in Alabama. The presentation took place in the governor's ... 

23.                       A final resting place.  Gazette.net Montgomery County Sports  More than 79000 veterans are buried in the five state-operated cemeteries, said Christopher Piscitelli, director of cemetery and memorial programs with the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs. The first state veterans cemetery opened in Hurlock in ... 

24.                       Officials ink sale agreement for Lebanon's VA home.  Lebanon Express  ... director for the Oregon Department of VA. The first home, located in The Dalles, is a 151-bed facility which recently won two national awards for veteran care, and is ranked in the top 10 out of 140 state-operated veteran homes, Willis said. ... 

25.                       Report: Pa. Veterans Received $1.5 Billion in VA Benefits in 2010.  Patch.com  Pennsylvania veterans received more than $1.5 billion in compensation and pension benefits in the 2010 federal fiscal year, a release stated. According to a recent statistical report from the US Department of Veterans Affairs, Pennsylvania has 964132 ... 

26.                       Recombinant partners with US Department of Veterans Affairs in genomic.  News-Medical.net  ... and clinical intelligence solutions provider, today announced its continued contributions to innovative IT tools for clinical research, through the company's key role in the US Department of Veterans Affairs' Million Veteran Program (MVP). ... 

27.                       Time left to say 'thanks' to the great generation.  Westport-News  The World War II veterans are quietly and too quickly slipping away. Nationally, we are losing about 850 each day, the government estimates. On Veterans' Day last fall, the US Department of Veterans Affairs estimated that barely more than 10 percent of ... 

28.                       Local Chamber Helps WWII Veteran See DC. San Tan Valley (AZ) Today The local American Legion Post "has successfully raised the funds to send WWII hero and Arizona treasure Walter 'Phil' Jordon on an Honor Flight to Washington D.C." A large contribution from the San Tan Regional Chamber ensured that the local vet would be able to be on the June 7 flight from Phoenix to Washington, DC.