20.New Denver Veterans Administration Hospital To Offer Latest Treatment. Denver Post  The Denver VA hospital is undergoing an extensive, $800-million renovation that will bring the 1950-circa healthcare facility far into the 21st Century. The high-tech modifications include lactation rooms for both veterans and spouses; a stand-alone spinal trauma unit and a dedicated PTSD clinic with a 20-bed capacity; and electronic registration kiosks and digital Skyping availability for patients and physicians. Project Coordinator Judy Guy says the new VA hospital, which is slated for opening in 2015, expects to serve 82,000 veterans during its first year of operation.

21.New Bill Gives Veterans Access To In Vitro Fertilization. Tacoma (WA) News Tribune  "A bill introduced last week into Congress" by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) would "give veterans and their spouses access to in vitro fertilization services" through the VA "for the first time." The increasing use of IEDs during combat "leaves service members, both male and female, at increased risk" for reproductive and urinary tract injuries, Murray said. And as they "return from the battlefield," the VA "system must be equipped to help injured veterans step back into their lives as parents, spouses and citizens." The Women Veterans and Other Health Care Improvement Act of 2012 also would create a "pilot program providing child care to veterans seeking readjustment counseling" and require the VA to improve female veterans' access to "VA healthcare and benefits."

22.Veteran's Spotlight: Navy Veteran Trained On Hutchinson Island. Treasure Coast Palm  Navy veteran Joe Harris, who "graduated from the Scouts and Raiders course at the US Naval Amphibious Training Station on Hutchinson Island during World War II." After the war ended, Harris remained in the "Navy Reserves and in 1956, he decided to return to active duty." But the Navy "would not take him back at his old rating," so he joined the Coast Guard; and then two years later, Harris "switched to the Air Force," where he remained until "retirement in 1973." Harris also "served one year in Vietnam," and now suffers from an Agent Orange-related illness, for which he is presently "receiving care at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center."

23."Marine Muster" Helps Vets Transition To Civilian Life. KSTP-TV "Today, nearly 500 Minnesota veterans got connected with potential jobs at a Marine Muster, which is like a veterans' round robin of benefits." Minneapolis VA Healthcare System spokesperson Barry Sharp explained, "Before veterans leave here today, they will know they are eligible not just for healthcare but for other benefits too." Veteran Zach Johnson added, "The VA set me up to talk to a psychologist, helped me deal with a traumatic brain injury, and helped me get back in the working world." KTSP added, "Zach is rare. Only one in three Minnesota veterans takes advantage of VA medical care; and it's not just health benefits that go by the wayside, help to get educated, to get a job or even to buy a house often goes unused."

24.Senior Spotlight: Tales Of Travels From A World War II Veteran.  Port Clinton (OH) News Herald  WWII veteran Bill Duane Conners, who "celebrated his 90th birthday last month." During the war, Connors was "assigned to the Sixth Armored Infantry Division and fought in Europe." In 2010, Connors participated in the "Northwest Ohio Honor Flight trip" and says his "favorite memory of the trip to Washington, D.C., was the changing of the guard at Arlington National Cemetery."

25.Volunteers Help Repair Veteran's N. Augusta Home. Augusta (GA) Chronicle More than "50 volunteers descended" on Air Force veteran Leonard Sarbin's home Saturday and spent the "day and $10,000 repairing the home and property" in a way Sarbin is "unable to do for himself" because of "seven degenerated discs in his back." The project, which was part of Wells Fargo's "second annual Community Service Su­per Saturday," was organized by "House of Heroes, a nonprofit based in Columbus, Ga., dedicated to honoring veterans and their spouses through home repairs."

26.Des Moines Parade Will Honor All Iowans Who Served In Military. Des Moines (IA) Register

27.American Homecomings: Oral History: Iraq Veteran "Wouldn't Have Missed" It For $10 Million. Salt Lake (UT) Tribune

28.Korean War Black Veteran Fondly Recalls Time With Early Integrated Unit.  Decatur Herald & Review

29.VA / VSO-MSO Hearings as June 25, 2012:

            June 27, 2012.  SVAC will conduct a legislative hearing.  The agenda is comprised mainly of bills regarding health care, disability compensation, and NCA matters.  10:00 A.M.; 418 Russell

1. Today in History:

• 1788 – Virginia becomes the 10th state to ratify the United States Constitution.
• 1876 – Battle of the Little Bighorn and the death of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer.
• 1906 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania millionaire Harry Thaw shoots and kills prominent architect Stanford White.
• 1910 – The United States Congress passes the Mann Act, which prohibits interstate transport of females for “immoral purposes”; the ambiguous language would be used to selectively prosecute people for years to come.
• 1913 – American Civil War veterans begin arriving at the Great Reunion of 1913.
• 1938 – Dr. Douglas Hyde is inaugurated as the first President of Ireland.
• 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Tali-Ihantala, the largest battle ever fought in the Nordic Countries, begins.
• 1944 – World War II: United States Navy and Royal Navy ships bombard Cherbourg to support United States Army units engaged in the Battle of Cherbourg.
• 1947 – The Diary of a Young Girl (better known as The Diary of Anne Frank) is published.
• 1948 – The Berlin airlift begins.
• 1949 – Long-Haired Hare, starring Bugs Bunny, is released in theaters.
• 1950 – The Korean War begins with the invasion of South Korea by North Korea.
• 1960 – Two cryptographers working for the United States National Security Agency left for vacation to Mexico, and from theredefected to the Soviet Union.
• 1967 – Broadcasting of the first live global satellite television program: Our World
• 1975 – The State of Emergency is declared in India.
• 1975 – Mozambique achieves independence.
• 1976 – Missouri Governor Kit Bond issues an executive order rescinding the Extermination Order, formally apologizing on behalf of the state of Missouri for the suffering it had caused to the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
• 1981 – Microsoft is restructured to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington.
• 1982 – Greece abolishes the head shaving of recruits in the military.
• 1991 – Croatia and Slovenia declare their independence from Yugoslavia.
• 1993 – Kim Campbell is chosen as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and becomes the first female Prime Minister of Canada.
• 1996 – The Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia kills 19 U.S. servicemen.
• 1997 – An unmanned Progress spacecraft collides with the Russian space station Mir.
• 1997 – The Soufrière Hills volcano in Montserrat erupts resulting in the death of 19 people.
• 1998 – In Clinton v. City of New York, the United States Supreme Court decides that the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 isunconstitutional.
• 2006 – Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier, is kidnapped by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid from the Israeli territory.

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