On Sunday, the Springfield Chapter of the National Association for Black Veterans joined the Shirley Jackson Whitaker Foundation and Stone Soul Inc. in recognizing present-day patriots who served in the military as well as those who have died.

The Florida man plans to be laid to rest in the bow of the now nearly century-old vessel, probably in a body bag encased in fiberglass inside a sealed concrete vault.

The Janesville Leadership Academy project “Through the Eyes of Rock County Veterans” aims to preserve veterans’ stories in video recordings to be available as learning tools for schools and community members.

In 2012, Jake Ferguson, a Marine recruiter in Ohio, forged a prescription for painkillers at a pharmacy. Since then, he has received therapy and recently was named a pastor at a church.

As a young man, Lyman Gammon, now 95, spent three years aboard the USS SC-505, chasing Japanese submarines across the Pacific Ocean in World War II.

Hundreds braved the weather at Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne, Mass., to pay tribute to Airman 2nd Class Craig Ross Price, who died without living family.

World War II veteran Edmund Rusinek turns 92 years old in a few days. To mark that milestone, he treated himself to a rather extravagant gift – the honor of buying some $1,500 worth of meals for military families.

A Dutch dad and son found a dog tag that had been buried in the woods in Germany for decades. Now it's on its way to the owners' relatives.

A disabled infantryman who served three tours in Iraq and was exploited by a Department of Veterans Affairs official looked across a courtroom and called on the man to think hard in prison about what he had done. "Money and greed corrupted you," the veteran said.

With news that the suicide rate among active-duty military personnel is at a record high, a suicide prevention coordinator with the Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare System in Connecticut is calling attention to the fact that asking about thoughts of suicide doesn't increase risk

"Where the hills heal the heroes." That's the motto for and mission of Sacred Mountain Retreat Center, a nonprofit set to open outside of Deadwood in short order, meeting a tall mission.

A West Virginia state senate resolution aims to rename a bridge after an Army veteran who was killed near Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2011.

A Baltimore law firm has joined a host of other firms across the country filing lawsuits over earplugs issued to the military that some allege to be defective. A case against 3M was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Maryland by Joshua M. Keiner, an Army combat veteran who served two tours in Iraq.

War memorials in the path of Omaha's downtown riverfront project will soon get a new home. Pieces honoring the U.S. Marine Corps, airborne troops and hundreds of bricks memorializing various service members could make the move to Memorial Park by the end of the year.

When Clyde Robinson was drafted into the U.S. Army’s 9th Cavalry Regiment in 1942, he had never heard of the buffalo soldiers. He did not know that he would become part of the storied, complicated legacy of the all-black regiments of the U.S. military.

A PROPUBLICA REPORT

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs paid $13,000 over a three-month period for a senior official’s biweekly commute to Washington from his home in California, according to expense reports obtained by ProPublica.

Earlier this week, cemetery staff wasn’t sure if anyone was going to show up at James McCue’s funeral because they didn’t know of any living relatives. Instead, over 500 strangers showed up to honor the D-Day veteran.

As the Department of Veterans Affairs works toward expanding its use of private-sector doctors, three veterans groups proposed this week that the White House and Congress approve a budget for private care in 2020 that’s nearly double what was appropriated for 2019.

A bill would rename a portion of an Austin road after the late Richard Overton, a 112-year-old who was known for his sense of humor, as well as his affection for cigars, Dr Pepper and whiskey.

A funeral for Lt. Richard C. “Tito” Lannom of Union City will be held March 2, decades after the 27-year-old went missing aboard an A-6A aircraft during a night mission in North Vietnam in 1968.

The new system involves multiple avenues for veterans, including an option to appeal their claims with a higher-level adjudicator or directly with the Board of Veterans’ Appeals.

The “Boots for Service” program provides foster care and medical care for pets of veterans who have to enter the hospital and have nowhere to put their furry (or feathery, perhaps) friends.

Tong Yi, a U.S. Army combat veteran from Ohio, is stuck in Seoul because he was on a watchlist for South Korean men who failed to serve their mandatory military service at home.

At the time of her retirement in 1997, Marcelite Harris was the highest-ranking African-American woman in the U.S. military, according to the Air Force.

Manatee School for the Arts has hired two combat veterans to serve as "guardians" for the school, each equipped with a semiautomatic rifle, handgun and plate carrier to protect the body from gunshots.

Francis E. Dick and 428 other sailors and Marines died aboard the USS Oklahoma during Japan’s 1941 attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor. Decades later, he was buried close to home.

Four Directions Inc. sent letters last week to President Trump and other federal officials asking for the removal of 20 Medals of Honor that were awarded to soldiers who participated in the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre, which killed perhaps 250 or more Native Americans.

Each site on the state's 30 campuses, called resource centers, will help veterans navigate campus life, including how to access state and federal benefits due to them.

Authorities are searching for a U.S. Army veteran accused of faking his death off the Alabama coast to avoid charges in Mississippi, where he is accused of raping and impregnating his 14-year-old stepdaughter.

Stephen Pembrook, an All-American golfer and former team captain at West Point in the 1960s, has spent the past two months at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center's Community Living Center, where he is recovering from a stroke.

Human bones initially were found Thursday in the Adirondack village of Lake George as a crew excavated an empty lot. A lawyer for the couple who own the property said two uniform buttons found at the site indicate that at least one of the graves was that of a Pennsylvania soldier.

In 1979, Tommy Clawson was 20 years old and stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army when his future wife walked into the barracks and said she'd been ordered to take him out on a date.

Gallery

A South Carolina town has honored the memory of a black WWII veteran whose 1946 beating at the hands of a white police chief left him permanently blind and helped spur President Harry Truman's drive to integrate the U.S. military.

Apple and the Department of Veterans Affairs jointly announced that the Health app included with every iPhone will soon be able to sync with certain types of medical records only available through My HealtheVet, the VA’s online web portal.

Dana Perkins discovered hundreds of photographs taken during his father's time as a radio operator at Pearl Harbor.

State licensing officials investigated the July 14 death of Korean War veteran Gene Rogers, 83, and in October, they announced their fine: $1,000.

David Williams spent 14 years living in the woods, where his lone friend was a raccoon he named Creeper. Struggling with bipolar disorder, Williams — a veteran — once couldn’t function in society. Today, he’s an ambassador helping other homeless people on the streets of Orlando.

For the past 11 years, the Aleda E. Lutz Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Saginaw has worked with veterans across mid-Michigan to help them with mental health issues, addiction and preventing suicide.

Bill Norris, 97, piloted B-24 Liberator bombers in perilous attacks on German targets during World War II. Just after the war, as an Air Force test pilot, he was among the first Americans to probe the boundaries of flight in jet-engine aircraft.

Veterans court programs hold veterans accountable for their crimes while helping them access the services they need to rehabilitate.

Hershel "Woody" Williams, the sole surviving U.S. Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor during World War II, will be the keynote speaker at the Kentucky Department of the American Gold Star Mothers annual meeting and luncheon at noon on April 6 at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum.

On March 21, 1968, an F-101B Voodoo supersonic fighter jet plunged into the chilly waters of Cape Cod Bay about 12 miles off the coast. Family members of the two Air Force officers who died in the crash have long since left New England to resume their lives. Nearly 50 years later, a large ceramic stein belonging to one of the officers turned up during major renovation of a base building.

The Yakama Warriors Association formed in 1991 to provide military honors at funerals on the Yakama Indian Reservation in Washington. Since its inception, the veterans group has assisted at funerals across the region, on and off the reservation, for all walks of servicemen.

“Being homeless in Pueblo is 10 times better than living in Oklahoma,” said Mike Tiger, who is having trouble finding work after losing his photo ID. “I like it here. Most of the people are friendly.”

After expanding their service, Vigo County Drug Court and Veterans Court programs' new location has 2,500 square feet and enough space for individual offices where confidential appointments can be conducted.

Michael Puccini provided the Gibson family a firsthand account of what life was like for their unit at combat outpost Gator outside the Green Zone.

Monica Bennett got goosebumps when she received a Silver Star inscribed with the name of WWII veteran Army Capt. Ralph Printz, a man she never knew.

A Madera, Calif., man shot and killed by police Thursday night was a U.S. Navy veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder who left an officer no option when he advanced with a knife, Chief Dino Lawson said Friday afternoon.

The process to create a memorial to the 129 individuals who perished about the USS Thresher at Arlington National Cemetery began in 2012, and last week it was announced Army Secretary Mark Esper had finally given the nod of approval.

Capt. Frank O'Beirne's 30-year career in the U.S. Navy spanned "command of the George Washington Carver (SSBN 656), command of the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia, and leadership of the Trident and Tomahawk missile programs in the Pentagon."

A U.S. government agency announced Friday that forensic investigators identified remains as those of Pvt. Winfred L. Reynolds. Winfred, a medic with the 32nd Infantry Division of the 8th Army, was killed while administering aid to a wounded soldier.

The remains of an 18-year-old Monona sailor who died in the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor were identified by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in September.

Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, wants travel logs to and from Mar-a-Lago, as well as emails, text messages and phone records, among other documents, between the three club members and former and current VA officials.

The Veterans’ Access to Child Care Act, H.R. 840, would make permanent a pilot program the VA began in 2011 to provide child care for veterans who need the VA for intensive medical and mental health care, such as cancer treatment or care for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Yukio Kawamoto, a Japanese American who served as a U.S. Army combat intelligence specialist and interpreter in the Pacific during World War II, even as his parents were interned in a detention camp for ethnic Japanese living in America, died Jan. 7 at his home in Springfield, Va. He was 99.

Ralph Anthony Mercurio will be honored at his funeral Friday, February 8 with a Naval Honor Guard and flag ceremony at the South Florida National Cemetery.

Veterans are taking their own lives on VA hospital campuses, a desperate form of protest against a system that they feel hasn’t helped them. "My son served his country well," said Greg Miller, his voice breaking. "But they didn't serve him well. He had a gun in his truck the whole time."

Legislation introduced in the House on Wednesday would grant them a military band and horse-drawn caisson – honors now reserved only for officers and servicemembers killed in action.

A stroke robbed Zach Brooks of his memory, fine-motor skills and even parts of his identity as a soldier, but the father of two is rebounding partly with help from a world of flaming lizards, electrified rodents and flowering dinosaurs.

Last week, some lawmakers and veterans organizations expressed worries the rules could expand veterans’ care too far into the private sector and erode VA resources.

Former U.S. Rep. John Dingell, who served in the U.S. House for 59 years before retiring in 2014, died Thursday at his home in Dearborn, said his wife, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell.

MILITARY UPDATE

The number of veterans eligible for health care services in their communities, using networks of private-sector providers contracted by the Department of Veterans Affairs, is expected to jump this summer when regulations setting new access standards for community care become final.

The controversy surrounding the continued use of dogs in medical experiments at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities heated up again this week when the agency’s inspector general announced it would initiate an investigation into the practice.

New rules proposed by the Department of Veterans Affairs could mean less travel time and more choices for veterans seeking mental or physical care.

MILITARY UPDATE

Unless the Department of Veterans Affairs successfully petitions the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the decision in Procopio v. Wilkie, Blue Water veterans have won a victory denied them for two decades, both in the courts and Congress.

House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mark Takano, D-Calif., plans to hold a hearing in the “imminent future” to analyze rules that the Department of Veterans Affairs publicly released Wednesday to expand veterans’ access to private doctors.

A U.S. Army veteran, Steenbeke served nearly a year in Afghanistan as a Tactical Explosive Detective Dog handler. Every minute of that deployment, Tess was at his side, sniffing out bombs and serving as emotional support for her handler. Now the two are finally reunited.

David Thatcher was a member of the famed Doolittle Raiders who bombed Tokyo months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He outlived all but one of the 80 Raiders before passing away in Missoula in 2016 at age 94.

Obituary

Army veteran Henry A. Jaume Sr., a Saints fan who "determined not to watch Super Bowl LIII" got his wish and died hours before kickoff, according to his obituary published this week in The New Orleans Advocate.

Started in 2011, Student Veterans of LSU offers services to more than 900 students who are veterans or are using federal veteran benefits passed to them by a parent or spouse, and also has philanthropic outreaches to off-campus veterans. Roughly 100 students participate in the chapter.

Tom Herlihy, 65, of Virginia, and his oldest daughter, Dianne Herlihy Sitkins, of Jacksonville Beach, were among those who tackled the inaugural Saratoga Classic Half Marathon, which, along with the Super Sara 5K, honors the fighting spirit of the venerable warship and the service of her crew through the years.

A Pennsylvania nonprofit dedicated to educating The family of Marine Maj. Henry Courtney Jr. has been seeking the return of his medal from the Valley Forge-based Freedoms Foundation since around 2015.

A nonprofit organization that received congressional approval to build a Global War on Terror Memorial at the National Mall in Washington wants to raise $50 million for the project and involve Fort Bragg soldiers and families for input on the design.

3M, without admitting guilt, agreed six months ago to pay military branches $9.1 million to settle the government's allegations that the company supplied defective earplugs, the Department of Justice said at the time.

Last summer, the U.S. Department of Justice and 3M reached a $9.1 million settlement over the same earplugs, which were sold to the U.S. military for more than a decade.

Bugles Across America was founded in 2000 after Congress passed legislation guaranteeing deceased veterans the right to at least two uniformed military personnel to fold the flag, as well as taps performed on a CD player.

A sort of unintentional pioneer whose many firsts helped lay a foundation for thousands of military women, Capt. Rosemary Mariner will be honored with the Navy's first all-female Missing Man flyover during a memorial service Saturday afternoon outside Maynardville, Tenn.

To bring attention to the case of Joaquin Antonio Sotelo Tarin, various advocates, veterans and community members plan to march Thursday morning in the Central California city of Fresno.

Admission to the National Veterans Memorial and Museum in Columbus, Ohio will be free to active-duty military members through the end of 2019 thanks to three veterans charities.

The USS Thresher ANC Memorial Foundation received nearly $60,000 in donations that will cover the cost of the memorial and ensure that funding will be in place to replace the monument in perpetuity.

Operation Heart to Heart, a national movement, encourages children and families to send valentines to deployed troops and soldiers at home.

Jane Doyle was among 1,102 women recruited to fly stateside for the U.S. Army Air Forces during the war, freeing up male pilots to serve in combat.

They set out to become the first team of American military veterans to complete the grueling Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, a race that requires competitors to row across 3,000 miles of open ocean. Now team Fight Oar Die is just a few days from the finish line.

Alek Skarlatos and Spencer Stone, along with their friend Anthony Sadler, were aboard a train bound for Paris in 2015 when an assailant’s assault rifle jammed as he attempted to open fire. The trio helped tackle and subdue the man, preventing the attack.

An athlete and Air Force veteran, Brandon Hough has been a runner since he “came out of the womb,” and he’s determined to make this year’s marathon weekend an experience unlike any other race in the United States.

State officials hope that the Defense Department's Troops to Teachers program and legislative efforts to ease certification of former Community College of the Air Force instructors can fill educator positions in rural areas.

Veterans of the Vietnam War and the Veterans Coalition dissolved Dec. 31, said the organization’s former executive director, Nancy Verespy-Forbes of Plains Township., and Post 1 Commander Michael Lasher, of Falls Township.

Judge Ross Leuning said the court will cater to veterans in the community and will include highly intensive probationary courts in which clients are met with more regularly, and increased oversight takes place for 18 months to two years.

News of the increase in suicides came within days of commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Robert Neller’s “Message to the Force 2019,” which was drafted Jan. 25, according to a copy provided to Stars and Stripes. In that document, Neller said he felt compelled to address the issue.

The California Department of Veterans Affairs oversees eight residential facilities in the state that provide rehabilitative and medical care to California military veterans, and the surrounding acres are managed by the state Department of General Services.

Thousands arrived at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery to pay their respects Air Force veteran Joseph Walker, producing a miles-long line of cars and delaying the ceremony by 20 minutes on Monday morning.

A federal court ruled Tuesday that Vietnam veterans who served on ships offshore during the war are eligible for benefits to treat illnesses linked to exposure to the chemical herbicide Agent Orange – a decision that has the potential to extend help to thousands of veterans.