Retired Air Force officer Bill Small got a jolt in March when the Social Security Administration notified him that it had overpaid his wife, Bess, during two decades of disbursing her monthly benefit. The Smalls are 85 years old and she has been diagnosed with dementia, but the SSA is demanding that he repay a total of $38,192 on her behalf.

Work begins Saturday on the National Mall to establish a long-sought memorial recognizing the military service of Native Americans – service that many in the United States remain unaware of, according to leaders of the project.

Nationwide, the Department of Veterans Affairs estimates veteran homelessness dropped about 5% between 2017 and 2018, the most recent available data. The VA spends about $1.8 billion annually to combat veteran homelessness and cites projects at the community level for success.

Two lawmakers introduced legislation in the House and Senate on Wednesday that would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to offer hyperbaric oxygen therapy for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury – an unproven treatment that some veterans have praised as a useful tool in their recovery.

Clarence Smoyer earned the moniker the “Hero of Cologne” as a 21-year-old tank gunner credited with destroying a German Panther IV tank blocking the U.S. Army’s 3rd Armored Division’s march to the Rhine River during WWII.

In her message to the many students in the audience, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Olga Custodio impressed upon them the importance of persistence, passion and patience. “I learned that denial is sometimes just delay,” she said about setbacks she’d faced.

Thousands of motorcyclists will ride again through the nation’s capital during the 2020 Memorial Day weekend as part of a new three-day rally designed to replace the popular Rolling Thunder event that ended in May, a national veterans organization announced Friday.

James “Pee Wee” Martin, 98, of Xenia, Ohio, will jump from a plane into the Dutch city of Son on Sept. 17, according to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

GALLERY

The Pentagon’s annual National POW/MIA Recognition Day honors the more than 140,000 American servicemembers who have served in POW camps and the tens of thousands more who have gone missing in wars fought in foreign lands.

In July 2018, a U.S. military plane made the trip to North Korea to retrieve 55 cases containing the remains of what was believed to be U.S. servicemen — and the family of Army Sgt. Vernon R. Judd has learned his remains were among those returned.

Dutch paratroopers jumped onto an old World War II battleground this week to present their country’s highest military award to an American veteran and the son of another who helped liberate the Netherlands from Nazi Germany.

Leslie Wiggins, director of the VA Southeast Network, was placed on immediate administrative leave and Ajay K. Dhawan, the chief medical officer for the network, was assigned to other administrative duties outside the network, pending a review of the quality and safety of care issues, according to a VA news release.

Tom Rice, who jumped on D-Day, described Thursday's jump as "perfect" and said, "I'm going to do it until I'm 100."

Twenty-three men were buried in a Wyoming cemetery. None had family to bid them farewell. Instead, they had a town as the citizens of Evansville and surrounding areas turned out to give them a hero's burial.

During a news conference in 2014, Lauren Bruner announced he decided to have the urn that would hold his cremated ashes interred aboard the USS Arizona.

Federal prosecutors say a former nurse at a veterans’ hospital in Massachusetts took liquid morphine intended for dying patients for her own use and then administered diluted doses.

Harold Kendall Costill, 18, was among more than 100 sailors killed aboard the battleship USS West Virginia when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He was listed as missing in action for nearly 80 years.

Black Horse Forge is a Stafford County-based nonprofit focused on supporting veterans and first responders. Work at the forge helps participants learn the blacksmithing trade, which includes designing and producing elaborate knives, tomahawks, jewelry and art.

A federal court ruled Tuesday that the Department of Veterans Affairs wrongly denied reimbursements for some veterans who received emergency medical treatment at non-VA facilities — a ruling that could cost the agency billions of dollars.

GALLERY

A man considered to be the nation's oldest living World War II veteran was serenaded and showered with kisses during a celebration of his 110th birthday at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.

Navy veteran Eileen Robichaud died Sept. 6 at age 84 with no family left to honor her. Funeral director is hopeful Massachusetts residents will show up to fill the void.

Lawyer Dino Colombo says he's representing the family of 85-year-old Army veteran Archie Edgell, who died at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg last year.

ANALYSIS

Of the three veterans remaining in the Democratic campaign, Pete Buttigieg hasn’t cracked double digits in national polling. Tulsi Gabbard failed to qualify for the third debate in Houston on Thursday. Joe Sestak, a retired admiral, has 0% support in an aggregate of polls.

A page devoted to the president had 100,000 followers. Then, say its longtime operators, a North Macedonian businessman hijacked it, leaving the Americans to watch as the page began operating under foreign control.

A veteran’s final hours of life were marked by “shallow breathing” and a “furrowed brow” — signs he was suffering — due to a hospice nurse at the Bedford VA hospital who is accused of stealing the man’s painkillers, court papers show.

The House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill on Thursday that would authorize the West Point mint to create three commemorative coins that would feature the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor and raise money for the nonprofit that supports it.

The Department of Veterans Affairs sent eviction notices to six members of Congress from Florida at the end of August, booting them and their staffs out of their offices inside VA hospitals in West Palm Beach and Orlando.

Fred Gomez traded a walking cane for his favorite pool cue after blowing out the candles on a 104th birthday sheet cake. It now was time to break a rack of eight in the billiard cove they named after him when he turned 102.

Dewey Harris of Crawford County was just 23 years old when he disappeared in November 1944, during the fierce Battle of Hürtgen Forest.

The Iraq Commitment Medal was intended to recognize the work of troops who served in Iraq following the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime — but the Department of Defense has yet to authorize servicemembers to wear the medals or taken steps to award them.

Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie accused a Florida congressman of misleading the public Friday after the lawmaker expressed outrage at being evicted from his congressional office inside a VA hospital.

George Burlage, a member of the 4th Marine Regiment, was captured on Corregidor in May 1942 and spent time in prisoner of war camps in the Philippines and Taiwan before being sent to work at a lead and zinc mine operated by Mitsubishi Mining in northeast Japan.

Dale Johnson, 81, and his brothers were chosen this year for Saturday’s Freedom Honor Flight, a daylong trip for veterans to visit military memorials and national monuments in Washington, D.C.

The Equal Access to Contraception for Veterans Act would do away with copayments for birth control, saving female veterans a total of $400,000 each year, according to VA estimates.

Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., is demanding answers from the Department of Veterans Affairs about how a veteran stricken with cancer and living in a VA nursing home could be bitten more than 100 times by ants before his death.

Struggling through Parkinson's disease, dementia and a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, Harry Glixon spent the last decade of his life racing the undertaker, pecking away at the keyboards with the two-fingered intensity that characterized his typing skills.

Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., urged the House Committee on Veterans Affairs on Tuesday to investigate how the Department of Veterans Affairs handled the case of a pathologist in Fayetteville, Ark., who is accused of misdiagnosing patients while he was intoxicated on the job.

The Let Everyone Get Involved in Opportunities for National Service LEGION Act, signed into law by President Trump on July 30, allows any honorably discharged veterans who’ve served since Dec. 7, 1941, to join the American Legion and access its programs and benefits.

The Veterans Expedited TSA Screening Safe Travel Act authorizes disabled military veterans to speed through airport security lines at no extra cost.

Bernard Bartusiak of Chicago earned more than one Distinguished Flying Cross and several Air Medals during the war, but, “for reasons unknown,” didn’t receive them, a Navy spokesman said.

Joseph Heller Jr., who served as a Seabee, was memorialized in a loving, humorous obituary that has gone viral.

A book by retired Navy Cmdr. Guy Snodgrass languished in a standard prepublication review for many months, as Pentagon officials scrutinized a manuscript to make sure it did not contain classified information. Snodgrass and his attorney had alleged that some DOD officials threatened to reduce his rank in retirement and that the officials claim that his obligations stretched beyond safeguarding classified information to other areas.

A lawyer representing relatives of patients who died at a Veterans Affairs hospital in West Virginia said investigators contacted three more families, indicating a federal probe into about 10 suspicious deaths is expanding.

When Air Force veteran Paul Smith lost his job four years ago, like many people, he wasn’t thrilled at having to launch a new job search. He reached out to Operation Welcome Home, which helped him get his foot in the door for his next job.

Navy veteran Bob Davidson, who served aboard a minesweeper in the Vietnam War, turned over his Vietnam Service Medal and watched with pride as the rounded bronze medal was placed in a cauldron and melted into the stew that became the ship's new bell.

While the nonprofit is officially no more, the Vietnam Veterans of Southern Minnesota lives on as a social group.

Retired Bishop Francis X. Roque, former auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese for Military Services who also served as a U.S. Army chaplain in Vietnam, Korea and Europe, died Thursday at age 90.

The Travis Mills Foundation plans to build an indoor pool, expand therapy and boost the number of weekly sessions, making it closer to a year-round retreat. It also is partnering to provide a program to help those with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Seaman 1st Class Beauran R. O'Kane was in the doomed Privateer aircraft along with 11 other crewmen when it went down in enemy waters on June 1, 1945, during a reconnaissance mission over Japanese-held Singapore. Beauran was just 19. And his disappearance has haunted his family ever since.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, introduced legislation Thursday to honor the Ohio native by renaming the NASA Plum Brook Station in Sandusky.

Nearly 78 years after he died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Navy Seaman 2nd Class Wilbur Clayton Barrett will be laid to rest in his native Kansas.

A majority of veterans surveyed recently said they support President Donald Trump as leader of the armed forces, though some of them question his ability to make the right decision when using military force and nuclear weapons, according to a recent survey.

Some 775,477 U.S. veterans and servicemembers have deployed to Afghanistan since the U.S. war there began after the 9/11 terrorist attacks 18 years ago this week. The span of the conflict has prompted some veterans to question what has been accomplished.

Brandon Pinson was killed Tuesday morning in Iraq, where he was leading a team working to clear improvised explosive devices left behind from battles with the Islamic State. Pinson, 31, was an Army veteran and married father of two.

This week, Vietnam river boat veterans have gathered in downtown Hampton for their annual reunion. They’ll share stories, hold a memorial service and show off two restored PBRs — it stands for patrol boat, riverine — docked at the city marina through Saturday morning.

A beekeeping program at the Manchester VA Medical Center in New Hampshire is part of a small but growing effort by Veterans Affairs and veteran groups to promote the training of soldiers in farming and other agricultural careers.

Every Georgia veteran with honorable service during the Vietnam War were eligible to receive special certificates and/or pins — including veterans with service in-country and those who served in other capacities — during a ceremony at Dalton's American Legion Post 112.

Hundreds of strangers showed up at Grace Hill Cemetery in Perry, Oklahoma, to honor 97-year-old Herman Augusta White, who left home to fight with the U.S. Navy during World War II. He had no immediate relatives left when he died on Aug. 11.

Nearly 78 years after he was killed in the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, William Shanahan Jr.’s remains finally were laid to rest Tuesday in his hometown. Shanahan was buried with full military honors at Mount Calvary Cemetery.

The comedy and musical event will also feature John Oliver, Hasan Minhaj and Ronny Chieng. It will be held Nov. 4 in New York City.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Dorian’s effects are predicted to be felt along the coasts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina from Tuesday through Thursday.

A few hundred people gathered to honor the memory of seven Plymouth men and the more than 58,000 other servicemembers whose names are etched into The Wall That Heals, a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Harold Costill's remains were recently identified after being exhumed from a military grave in Hawaii. On Sept. 14 Costill will be buried with full military honors.

Veterans should be especially wary of calls from organizations claiming to serve veteran-related causes, says Larence Kirby,a veteran and the executive director of the Delaware Commission of Veteran Affairs.

D.J. and Jessica Carson were hoping to discover a small fortune when they purchased contents within a storage unit during a public auction in Canton, Ohio. Inside an old trunk were a Purple Heart and other memorabilia that belonged to Lewis R. Billman, a U.S. Army soldier who died in battle in France on Aug. 21, 1944.

Kenneth Higashi sat at attention, only his use of a wheelchair keeping him from rising to receive France's highest civil and military distinction, the Legion of Honor, before grateful family, friends and neighbors.

David Austin Kellerman was accused of selling loaned ceremonial rifles, pocketing $4,650 from the sale of a closed American Legion post, embezzling from the Memorial Poppy fund and embezzling from a Legion bank account.

For the second year, Army veterans Tim Welbaum and Scott Doney marched from Adrian to Ann Arbor to raise funds for the Alzheimer's Association.

Doug Elliott, the executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs, who was retained despite a highly critical state audit of the agency released last year, plans to resign.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency at the Pentagon announced Thursday that the remains of Navy Mess Attendant 1st Class Johnnie C. Laurie, 25, of Bessemer, were identified last month.

Miguel Perez Jr.'s lawyer is arguing the recent clemency bolsters the case that Perez has good moral character and should be allowed back into the country.

Vietnam veteran Clyde Peters led the effort to bring The Wall That Heals to Plymouth, and Tuesday he led the pack of motorcyclists who escorted the wall to his hometown.

The Eighth Annual Wounded Heroes Benefit Concert is scheduled on Friday night and all day Saturday at Clancy’s Saloon & Stage, on the Bar-Double Horseshoe Ranch, near Campbell.

Robert Morris Levy's supervisors failed to heed early warnings that he was endangering patients and then were slow to act, according to internal VA documents, court filings and interviews with 20 congressional officials, veterans and current and former VA employees.

Despite the observation, Jason Thompson said he often finds humor in how he becomes involved in such situations.

U.S. Rep. Steve Womack and U.S. Sen. John Boozman presented Cpl. Richard E. Cosner III with the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with Combat 'V' during a ceremony Wednesday in Fort Smith.

William Shuttleworth, a 71-year-old Newburyport, Mass., resident who just finished a cross-country walk in support of the nation’s veterans, will be welcomed home with a ceremony Thursday morning at City Hall.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has appointed Patricia Hall as the new medical center director of Truman Memorial Veterans' Hospital.

Details of potential wrongdoing were outlined last week in a wrongful death claim filed against the VA by the family of retired Army Sgt. Felix McDermott. McDermott, a Vietnam War veteran, died April 9, 2018, at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center.

"I think it will give them a chance to really focus on their mental health and their recovery and just live and get integrated back into the community," Nykhia Burke-Cummings said.

It has been nearly 50 years since Maj. Gen. George W. Casey was on his third tour of duty in Vietnam when the Huey helicopter he and six of his men were in flew into a dense cloud over the country’s mountainous central highlands and disappeared.

Obituary

Jim Leavelle, a Pearl Harbor veteran and longtime Dallas lawman who was captured in one of history's most iconic photographs as he escorted President John F. Kennedy's assassin as he was fatally shot, has died. He was 99.

Like a victorious boxer after a grueling championship match, Joaquin Aviles flung his hands in the air after crossing the border at San Ysidro Thursday morning. It was the first time that Aviles, a Marine Corps veteran, legally entered the United States since he was deported nearly 20 years ago.