The numbers continue to dwindle. Colorado Springs native Donald Stratton is one of them. On Saturday, the 78th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, he will watch a live stream of Bruner's ashes being interred on the sunken remains of the Arizona.

The screaming whine of Japanese dive bombers, the fearsome thunder of enemy Zeros strafing scattering servicemen, pushed Hy Seiden to his feet and out of his tent at Fort Kamehameha, an Army base adjacent to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Breakfast would have to wait. It was Dec. 7, 1941, and the world was about to change forever.

Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941 is a day 94-year-old World War II veteran Mel Kahl has never forgotten. He was 16 years old as he listened in shock to news that Japanese bombers had attacked Pearl Harbor. He wanted to enlist right away.

Besides the lines on his face, there was little about retired Col. Charles McGee that suggested he could now be called a centenarian. He had a spring in his step and handled the questions from reporters without missing a beat.

The Vietnam veteran had been living alone for eight years in the woods of South Alabama. Although he was no longer drinking, his old enemy depression had beaten him down.

Prior to National Wreaths Across America Day, Delaware's General Assembly will host Wreaths Across America on Monday, Dec. 9, at 11:30 a.m. on the east side of Legislative Hall in Dover, near the bronze sculpture of the Delaware Continentals.

On Dec. 7, 1941, then-21-year-old Lauren Bruner was the second-to-last man to escape the burning wreckage of the USS Arizona after a Japanese plane dropped a bomb that ignited an enormous explosion in the battleship’s ammunition storage compartment.

Lou Conter, 98, was on the stern of the USS Arizona on Dec. 7, 1941, when a Japanese aerial bomb pierced the bow of the battleship, igniting a million pounds of gunpowder. He helped badly injured men get off the stricken ship.

The Defense Department will add new technology for breast cancer screenings to its Tricare coverage after female veterans in Congress pushed the Pentagon to make it available to active-duty service members, retirees and their families.

Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, introduced the Veteran Overmedication Prevention Act of 2019, which would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to conduct an independent, expert study on VA patients who died by suicide or from a drug overdose during the past five years.

The bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 sparked patriotism in Catherine Royalty. She soon after enlisted in the women's branch of the U.S. Navy.

The U.S. Postal Service has unveiled a new charity stamp that raises money for military veterans living with post-traumatic stress disorder.

For more than 10 years, Le Roy and Rosie Torres' lives have revolved around his medical needs and veterans advocacy related to burn pit exposure. Thousands of veterans have linked their chronic medical issues to burn pits. The VA contends that there isn’t enough conclusive research to prove the connection.

American Legion Post 555 is located inside the Miami Correctional Facility. Its entire membership is made up of inmates housed inside the maximum-security prison.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown said he will co-sponsor legislation that would modify the presumption of a service connection for veterans who were exposed to herbicide agents while serving in the U.S. armed forces in Thailand during the Vietnam War.

Four months after receiving a $10,630 bill from the Naval Hospital Beaufort for the 12 years of prescriptions she’d gotten there, and then taking out a loan to pay it off, Claretha Singleton got a letter. The Secretary of the Navy’s office reviewed the retiree’s case and agreed to reimburse her for the entire amount.

So far, researchers have found photos of all the casualties from 44 states for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s Wall of Faces. But there are still 353 missing photos.

The House Judiciary Committee has approved a historic effort to legalize marijuana, which could pave the way for the Department of Veterans Affairs to recommend cannabis use to its patients.

After nearly 80 years in the dark, happenstance brought the Coast Guard flag back into service, this time as a link between one ship’s history and its service today.

The Pentagon’s annual suicide report, released in September, showed service members who died by suicide were primarily enlisted men younger than 30. That population makes up about 46% of the military population but accounted for 60% of suicide deaths.

When Jonathan I. Lazzara entered medical school, he crossed two potential specialty fields off his career list: gynecology and psychiatry. Then, as so often happens, life got in the way of his plans.

Trained as an aviator, Holloway holds the distinction of serving as a four-star admiral at the same time his father held the same rank — the only father and son in the history of the Navy to do so.

Obituary

World War II Army Staff Sgt. Jakeway dropped behind enemy lines just prior to the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944. Jakeway, one of Central Ohio's most decorated veterans, has died at the age of 96.

Saturday, Bob Henry will visit Beaver Cemetery. He'll pause at the grave of a man he never met, but one to whom he owes plenty. He comes to honor and remember the sacrifice of 2nd Lt. Louis Gustav Moslener Jr., Beaver County's first casualty Dec. 7, 1941, in a surprise attack by Japanese forces on Pearl Harbor.

Raul Rodriguez had worked for U.S. Customs for 18 years and lived in the United States as long as he could remember. He had no idea he was actually born across the border in Matamoros, Mexico.

When does a one and five zeros cause an audience to erupt in cheers and applause? When there's a dollar sign attached.

Composer Irving Burgie, who helped popularize Caribbean music and co-wrote the enduring Harry Belafonte hit “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song),” has died at the age of 95.

The Richland County Coroner’s Office searched for nearly two months to locate a family member who could offer Daniel Barker a proper burial, according to a news release from the Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Burial Program. But no one was found.

The VA’s Caregiver Support Program, which now assists caregivers of veterans who served after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, will grow each of the next two years. Starting in June of 2020, caregivers of veterans who served anytime after 1974 will be able to apply for full services.

The crew of Christmas decor company in Augusta, Ga., had only a few hours Friday to turn a home into holiday artwork, but in the end, the work would be worth it to make a hero smile.

Fresh off a write-in win for a third term as a state lawmaker, Republican Nick Freitas said Monday he will challenge Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and said he would try to protect the nation from what he called encroaching socialism.

Army veteran Bill Myka enjoys polka dancing, chopping wood and tinkering around the house, but at 85, he wishes his balance was a bit better. He fears falling. High-intensity interval training has improved his confidence the last several months.

Virtual reality, where headsets and the feeds they deliver make the real world disappear, has lagged as a consumer product. But there have been significant strides during the past few years in its clinical use, especially among military service members.

After years of denials and claims he was the target of a political witch hunt, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., is scheduled to appear in federal court Tuesday morning to plead guilty in a sweeping campaign finance investigation.

Earl “Buddy” Yates and Dennis FitzPatrick grew up nearly 40 years apart, but they are cut from the same Navy cloth and are united by the aircraft carrier known as “Big John.”

The hall of fame recognizes distinguished Connecticut veterans who have made significant contributions to their communities after leaving the military.

From the time he was 15, U.S. Marine Corps combat veteran Bruce Calderon knew his ultimate career goal: become a public defender and work in the juvenile justice system, helping incarcerated and at-risk youths get a second chance — just like he did.

In an upcoming podcast, a pair of Veterans Affairs researchers hope to provide a platform for veterans to share their stories and to shed light on their experience at the Iowa City-based facility.

Robert “Boom” Powell's passion for carrier-based aircraft and their gargantuan motherships inspired him to learn more about how they co-developed over the decades, particularly in Hampton Roads, Va.

An Arizona-based adventurer believes that on a trek in 2011 he found the site of a B-25 that was shot down on Dec. 10, 1943, during World War II. No remains have been recovered from the site.

One day, Raymond Meeks was a 73-year-old veteran, a retiree from a police career who had grown up an only child. The next day, he found out he was Raymond Dale Gray, a man with nine brothers and sisters and different parents than he remembered.

Angela Kadlec cradled a tiny kitten belly-down in her hand while feeding the hungry baby formula in a syringe. The orphan was found outside in the freezing cold with its eyes still closed and an umbilical cord attached.

At a ceremony Tuesday, the National WWII Museum says Dorothy Mann's family donated mementos such as her flight suit, dog tags and insignia, her leather flight jacket and her pilot's kneeboard — a clipboard used by pilots for notes and charts.

Many veterans of the Vietnam era served in more than one country, on land and sea. And those who served in Thailand while suffering exposure to harmful herbicides find they have a higher hurdle to win crucial Veterans Affairs benefits than those who served in Vietnam.

A bill introduced in the Senate on Thursday could make it easier for veterans to claim disability from burn pit exposure, despite the Department of Veterans Affairs’ contention that there’s no evidence that pollution from the pits poses long-term health problems.

Friday, the French government named Glenn Pitts a knight of the Legion of Honor, its highest distinction, for his part in liberating France from Nazi occupation 75 years ago.

Recent problems at the troubled Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center include safety violations during surgical processes, gnats in one operating room, lack of proper surgical tools in one case and a strong chemical odor in one operating room.

About 59,000 veterans are expected to receive increased living stipends, but about 21,000 will get less money, the VA estimated. GI Bill benefits go to about 500,000 students each semester.

Walt Peters said it took a year for him to learn to read Braille after his vision deteriorated to the point where he was legally blind, so he understands the emotions shown by blind veterans who touch a paper or metal version of the flag for the first time.

Obituary

Delta Force sniper Sgt. 1st Class James P. McMahon, one of the survivors of the October 1993 battle in Mogadishu, Somalia that claimed the lives of 18 U.S. service members, died Nov. 5. He was 64.

At American Legion Post 129 in Jacksonville Beach, Post Commander Joe Maichle says the legion is excited that new legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump means more veterans can now join as members.

Active-duty service members and other women who use Tricare for their medical treatment would benefit from the latest technology for breast cancer screening under new legislation expected to be introduced Thursday in the House and the Senate.

Veterans have long been eligible to have the government discharge their federal student loans if Veterans Affairs deems them totally and permanently disabled. But because the option has never been widely publicized, few have taken advantage of the discharge.

The City Council unanimously passed a resolution this week honoring the 50th anniversary of the death of Army Sgt. Robert “Bobby” K. Parker, the first Newburyport resident to die in the Vietnam War.

U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie said Monday the plague of suicide among veterans has been building for half a century and was now consuming the lives of men and women who were contemporaries of his late father at a rate of almost 20 per day.

Most were buck privates who succumbed to infections or pneumonia. Some are buried in France. All 21 were African American troops from Laurens County who died in uniform during World War I or soon after it ended.

Because the VA does not recognize a “service connection” between well-documented legacy contamination at bases like Wurtsmith and illnesses among those who worked there, veterans’ benefit claims are routinely denied when seeking coverage for ailments they insist are related to exposure to toxic chemicals.

A new resource to help veterans in need of help in civil cases has been mobilized by Jacksonville Area Legal Aid as part of a statewide Florida Veterans Legal Services program.

Jackson County’s Pieces and Patches Quilt Guild sews quilts to donate to veterans from across the county. On Tuesday, Nov. 25, they brought 29 quilts to Jackson’s Ella Sharp Museum for an event honoring former service members from the American Legion and Vietnam Veterans of Jackson.

Romance scammers use fake names, stolen photos and false stories on online dating sites and social media accounts to lure their victims, officials wrote in the affidavit, often claiming to be in the military or working overseas so they have a reason they can’t meet in person.

Diane Moore's father, Chief Master Sgt. Thomas Moore, and two other airmen were captured in Vietnam in 1965. He is listed as a prisoner of war and his case is still active as missing in action.

“Land of the free, home of the brave, yet 81,864 missing Americans are buried in unmarked graves,” said the chief executive officer of an organization that works hand-in-hand with Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency to recover missing remains of Americans.

A small symbol of a big sacrifice was delivered Friday to Oklahoma when the dog tag of a U.S. Army Air Force flight mechanic killed in World War II was found and returned to his brother by Netherlands military officials 75 years later.

Claretha Singleton filled her prescriptions at the Naval Hospital Beaufort for 12 years. Last November, the hospital told her that not only was she not eligible to get her medicine there, but she owed money for all the drugs she’d obtained there previously.

After years of struggling with mental illness, Marine Corps veteran John Wilkerson, 58, is enrolled at Eastern Michigan University and is aiming for a bachelor's degree in social work.

The National Medal of Honor Monument Act tasks the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation with the creation of a monument in Washington to honor the more than 3,500 recipients of the nation’s highest award for military service.

Curly, who alerted his owner that their Beaufort home was on fire last month by nudging him with his nose until the man woke up, was honored at a ceremony on the steps of Beaufort City Hall on Tuesday evening.

A California congressman has introduced a bill to grant all disabled veterans free lifetime access to national parks and federal recreation sites.

Ten miles of Highway 33 were named after Staff Sgt. Daniel Busch, fatally wounded in Somalia in 1993, when Gov. Tony Evers signed Assembly Bill 77 on Tuesday at Portage High School.

In four videos, entertainer Ann-Margret talks with Stars and Stripes' Ken-Yon Hardy about the time she spent entertaining the troops in Vietnam and elsewhere, a record of service that earned her the USO's first Bob Hope Legacy Award.

The Center for a New American Security has created an online database that allows veterans to search for and compare state benefits. The tool was launched Monday.

The Improve Well-Being for Veterans Act would allocate money to organizations and services outside the VA to assist veterans with mental health concerns and potentially link them to federal programs later.

The Veterans Affairs Department, while responding to requests for records on veterans' benefits claims, "put millions of people at risk of identity theft" by not deleting personally identifying information on other people from those records, an audit has found.

About 30 percent of GI Bill tuition benefits went to for-profit schools in 2017, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Amir Hekmati, 36, a Marine veteran who was imprisoned and abused by Iranian authorities on accusations he was a spy, has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, alleging it has failed to compensate him after agreeing he was eligible to receive millions of dollars.

A woman faces a murder charge in connection with the Nov. 2 shooting death of Navy veteran Renae Alexander, 48, outside a southwest Atlanta apartment complex.

Fort Drum officials honored Lt. Col. Ernest Childers — who’s credited with risking his life during combat in Oliveto, Italy, in September 1943 — during a plaque unveiling at a range facility on post on Wednesday morning.

A Santa Ana, California, man has been arrested in the alleged murder of an Army veteran, Adrian Darren Bonar, whose body was found in October in the trunk of a deserted Lexus in Anaheim Hills.

The ACLU said it has filed a federal lawsuit against federal agencies for detaining Jilmar Ramos-Gomez, a U.S. citizen and Marine veteran, for three days.

Federal immigration officials have lodged what's known as an immigration detainer against a suspect charged in the hit-and-run death of a 67-year-old Vietnam veteran in Norristown, Pa. Officials say the suspect was in the country illegally.

James Wormley Jones, who had served as a captain in the Great War abroad and as a police officer in the District of Columbia became the FBI’s first documented black special agent.

VIDEO

Robert McClintock turned 101 on Tuesday, but you couldn’t hear those years in his voice on Thursday as he the sang national anthem as part of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Military Appreciation Night.

The city of Grand Rapids will pay $190,000 to Marine Corps veteran Jilmar Ramos-Gomez, who was arrested by police and wrongfully turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

Seventy-six years after he was killed in action on a little-known island in the Pacific during World War II, the remains of U.S. Marine Pfc. Joseph Robert Livermore arrived in Bakersfield by motorcade Thursday as hundreds of residents lined the streets and gathered on freeway bridges to welcome him home.

Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers are more than money for rent. Tenants work with caseworkers from the VA and housing agencies to get connected with addiction treatment, job placement, mental health care and more.