The fifth annual Edwardsville Warrior Tree Lighting combined bright holiday cheer with a somber message: The men and women who serve in the U.S. military are at risk not only at war, but also after they return home.

Friends and acquaintances have identified one of two people killed Saturday in a plane crash in Fredericksburg as Cowden Ward, Jr., a pilot who worked in an organization that gives complimentary flights to veterans.

Fifty years after retired Marine 1st Sgt. John Lord led his unit through an ambush during the Vietnam War, he was awarded the Navy Cross for his efforts.

Financial struggles following a divorce left Army Ranger Jason Cormier without a home and some uncertainty about if he would be able to finish college.

For years and years and years, Kim Leiter of Grand Rapids, Mich., wondered about Capt. Robert Holton — the name on a POW-MIA bracelet she got in North Carolina in 1972 while the Vietnam War raged on.

The next version of the farm bill could expand cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which might have an adverse affect on military veterans.

resident Donald Trump expressed regret in an interview to be aired this weekend for not marking Veterans Day with a visit to Arlington National Cemetery.

Video

Oomar Olivas, a sergeant in the Colorado Army National Guard , accidentally left his garage door open Sunday night after celebrating Veterans Day with family and friends. When he awoke the next morning a "go-bag" containing his military uniform, some warm clothes and a journal detailing his experiences while deployed in Afghanistan was gone.

Kimo Williams photographed the Vietnamese people he met on a daily basis and the war itself as he experienced it.

Travis Denny, who joined the Marine Corps 10 years ago under the shadow of his Marine hero grandfather Bill Pasewark, is a helicopter pilot stationed at Corpus Christi.

The Americans who returned to their homes in rural Pennsylvania had seen the horrors of the Great War and the sophistication of Paris. Many went on to lead ordinary lives. Here are some of their stories from the battlefield.

Obituary

Jack Schwartz of Hanford was still working at age 102. The community-minded veteran's last civic service was serving on his city's parks and recreation commission into last year. He was living independently until he was admitted to the hospital two days before he died.

Joseph Small, a U.S. Army veteran injured in Afghanistan in 2009, received the keys to a new home Friday. Wade Jurney Homes donated the home as part of the Operation Homefront Homes on the Homefront Program.

Department of Veterans Affairs officials contended delays in housing payments weren’t causing rampant hardships for student veterans, though they admitted thousands were still waiting for their stipends and the agency had received credible complaints from veterans facing eviction.

Thousands of Navy and Marine Corps veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who developed post-traumatic stress disorder but were denied Veterans Affairs health benefits have been given a green light to sue the military, under a ruling by a federal judge in Connecticut.

A pair of House lawmakers introduced legislation Friday to alter the Department of Veterans Affairs motto to be more inclusive of veterans’ families and women who have served.

The transfer of the VA official comes amid problems with the GI Bill that have gained national attention.

Pushups near the witness stand, rounds of enthusiastic applause and history lessons from the bench: It's no ordinary day in court when hearings just for military veterans take place.

Funeral services are this weekend in Oklahoma for two Korean War soldiers whose remains were recently identified after they died two days apart in what is described as a running battle with North Korean forces during the early stages of the war.

Jared Golden will be among the youngest members of the U.S. House of Representatives if he’s seated following his victory Thursday in a historic ranked-choice election.

Jeremy Honsowetz a licensed mental health counselor in Vancouver, Wash., is conducting a study on post-traumatic stress disorder, and how veterans seek treatment for it.

In brief remarks during a daylong White House conference, Donal Trump took credit for several ongoing programs and accomplishments that serve the military and veterans.

The World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument was established in 2008, bringing together the Alaska and California sites with five in Pearl Harbor: the USS Arizona Memorial, USS Oklahoma Memorial, USS Utah Memorial, Battleship Row and Ford Island.

Almost six months after inspectors found two nurses asleep on the job at the Brockton Veterans Administration Hospital, a special counsel issued a report condemning attitude of staff at the Brockton facility.

Brendan Hoolihan met Navy veteran Telemachus "Tel" Orfanos when they both survived the Route 91 Harvest festival attack. After the California mass shooting at Borderline Bar and Grill, Hoolihan learned of Orfanos' heroic attempts to save others.

The Department of Veterans Affairs doesn’t have the tools to track whether private-sector medical providers are accurately giving exams that help determine whether veterans are eligible for VA benefits, a government watchdog agency found.

One method preferred by the Department of Veterans Affairs is exposure therapy, but it doesn't work for everyone and many can't handle what it requires: purposely recalling traumatic events and confronting emotions.

Steve Piotter and his wife, Judy, welcomed Major into their home last month after an intense two-week training program through Canine Companions for Independence, a Santa Rosa-based nonprofit that has provided skilled dogs to people with physical disabilities since 1975. Major has already become Piotter's constant sidekick.

Military Spouse Career Connection, Walmart’s new initiative to recruit military spouses, complements the Veterans Welcome Home Commitment, aims to hire 250,000 military veterans by 2020.

The order, issued by the VA last week, ends “official time” status for 430 employees and bars another 100,000 employees from getting involved in union activities during working hours.

Dorothy Jones served in the Navy during World War II and was involved in classified communications. Her work was so secret that she never talked about it to anyone outside of her family -- and even then only sparingly.

John B. "Jack" Cummings was 22, a handsome college man headed off to World War II from Juneau, Wisconsin, where his family, no doubt, prayed he would return. But on Dec. 31, 1944, near the French village of Neuhaeusel on the Rhine River, he vanished from his foxhole.

Eve of Destruction, on display in the U.S. Army Transportation Museum, is the last of the giant trucks that soldiers in Vietnam built up with makeshift armor to craft a highly effective weapon not officially approved by the Pentagon.

A service has been held at a Michigan cemetery for the cremated remains of about 20 military veterans found in a closed Detroit funeral home.

On the 100th anniversary of the "War to End All Wars," Walter Johnson's grandson John Sharples decided it was time to unlock the chest's treasures: All of the things Johnson took home with him when he was discharged shortly after the end of the war.

Dozens of former Army nurses from across the country gathered Sunday around the bronze sculpture on the National Mall that's dedicated to their service in the Vietnam War.

Each year the number of World War II veterans attending ceremonies in their honor dwindles. As the years march on, the same holds true for the veterans of other wars. Yet the resolve of the remaining men and women galvanizes each year.

The Department of Veterans Affairs on Thursday promised to try to speed up payments to thousands of veterans after delays caused by information technology problems.

At a solemn Veteran's Day ceremony Monday at the University of Saint Joseph, Leesa Philippon of West Hartford talked about growing up in a military family, her own service in the Army, having her son join the Marines in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, and the awful day she learned her son had died in combat in Iraq.

At a solemn Veteran's Day ceremony Monday at the University of Saint Joseph, Leesa Philippon of West Hartford talked about growing up in a military family, her own service in the Army, having her son join the Marines in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, and the awful day she learned her son had died in combat in Iraq.

The cemetery is expected to have rifle fire three to five times per weekday to honor veterans as they're buried.

The remains of 1st Lt. Eugene P. Ford will be interred Dec. 4 in Arlington National Cemetery along with the ashes of Vietnam veteran Richard Stanton Ford, the son the young pilot never met.

It didn't take long for the U.S. Army to get Francis Byrne into combat. The Army has taken a lot longer — seven decades and counting — to award Byrne the Purple Heart he said he deserves. His painful reminder of the war: he carries around shrapnel from a German landmine in his leg.

Members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1000 in Independence, Looker and Anthony count the Buddy Poppy fundraiser as one of their favorite annual traditions. The initiative, begun in 1922, allows disabled and needy veterans in Veterans Affairs hospitals to assemble the poppies, with proceeds helping them to support themselves.

If you're a veteran with student debt, you have repayment rights unique to military servicemembers that can keep you on track and out of default.

At least 10,000 American women worked behind the scenes of the war, breaking complex codes used by the Axis Powers and providing critical intelligence to the United States Army and Navy. For decades, they did not reveal the scope of their work.

Kevin Cuttill's son died on Veterans Day, 2009. Four years later, he founded Crusaders for Veterans on the Mississippi Coast to help veterans struggling with financial problems.

Carl Rhinebolt remembers trying to yell for help after the armored personnel carrier he was riding atop on April 12, 1970 took on heavy fire while on patrol along Highway 1 between Saigon and the border.

In the plane on his way to Bien Hoa Air Base in Vietnam, 19-year-old Carl Ferguson decided 13 was going to be his lucky number.

Ten days after Chilton “Chilly” Raiford received the Purple Heart, the Rappahannock County resident died, on Aug. 14, 2018, at the Martinsburg VA Medical Center. He was 95.

Even at 94, Escolastico Griego hasn’t shared all his stories from World War II battles in the Pacific.

As a veteran of the Vietnam War and U.S. Marine Corps, Stan Tylinsky never shied away from a tough assignment. But just a few months into his role as commander of Frankfort’s VFW Post 1493, he said he is now fighting to keep its doors open.

In 1969, Dr. Jerold Albright, now promoted to captain, headed for Vietnam where he would be part of a small team of American and Vietnamese doctors that would help soldiers from both sides and civilians.

Lionhearted is a new Veterans Day campaign that seeks to reduce the high veterans' suicide rate with videos and a short film telling stories of combat and healing.

Nearly 40 years separate Re’ Richards, 57, from the new recruits tackling Marine Corps boot camp today. Given the chance, though, she’d be down in the mud and belly-crawling beside them in a heartbeat.

Arlington National Cemetery had never seen a funeral quite like the one that was held the morning of Nov. 11, 1921. The nation's highest military officers were there, along with congressional leaders, Supreme Court justices, diplomats from around the world and a crowd so huge the president's car was forced to drive across fields for him to get there in time.

Ralph Lord would fight in the Vietnam War as a member of the U.S. Air Force after graduating from Ballard Hudson High School. It would be decades later, however, before the Canadian would become a citizen of the nation he served for in the military and spent more than 60 years living in.

Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie on Friday defended the VA’s continued use of dogs in medical research. Wilkie argued the research was necessary for medical breakthroughs that could help veterans.

Donald Trump's broad-brush remarks outside the White House on Friday prompted concern that the president was amplifying stereotypes suggesting PTSD turns veterans into violent killers and that all service members come home somehow damaged from combat.

The uproar over 15 acres on the corner of Freeman and Mundhank roads, about 35 miles northwest of Chicago, has arisen as the Department of Veterans Affairs is working on a nationwide expansion of military columbaria, which are final resting places for cremated remains.

On Sept. 28, 1918, just six weeks before the end of World War I, Cpl. Freddie Stowers, 21, of Sandy Springs, was killed while leading Company C of the black 371st Infantry Regiment into no-man’s land to capture German positions.

At 10:59 a.m. Sunday, the bells at the Most Holy Redeemer Cemetery will ring for Henry Gunther, a Baltimorean remembered as the last soldier killed in combat in World War I.

The idea for the National Veterans Memorial and Museum started with one veteran. Astronaut John Glenn, a former Marine, U.S. senator and Ohio resident, wanted a special, sacred place to honor and connect veterans and teach others about their service.

Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie said Friday that he has begun forming a plan to cut the agency’s budget as President Donald Trump requested during a Cabinet meeting last month.

Perhaps the quickest way to start an argument with the Dalton brothers is to suggest that — because they all served in the U.S. military during World War II — they might be heroes. It also might be the quickest way to bring them together.

Artist Michael Reagan said he knew there was more work to do after drawing a portrait for the wife of a fallen Marine 15 years ago.

Every day for the past 774 days, William Felty has done 22 pushups to bring awareness to the number of American military veterans who die by suicide each day.

On July 30, 1943, an American B-17F bomber, heading home to its base in England after a raid over Kassel, Germany, was shot down and crashed in a field at Opijnen, Netherlands. Villagers looked up to see men falling out of the sky.

A rare military knapsack carried by a Connecticut soldier during the American Revolution is going on display this weekend in honor of Veterans Day.

Stores and restaurants across the country are showing some love to servicemembers and veterans with Veterans Day discounts ranging from free chocolate cake to discounted car repair services.

Lionhearted, a new Veterans Day campaign, seeks to reduce the high veterans’ suicide rate with videos and a short film telling stories of combat and healing.

In addition to producing a memorial book, the rabbi's project may eventually help recover the remains of a missing servicemember from World War II.

Monitoring active service members for mental health issues, including PTSD, is a relatively new initiative, said Retired USMC Col. Willy Buhl, who served as commanding officer of the Wounded Warrior Regiment at Quantico from 2012 to 2014.

Army veteran Julian Bear Runner has been elected leader of the Oglala Sioux tribe.

Aaron Merritt had gone to the emergency room of the Nashville Veterans Affairs Hospital seriously ill and was dead less than 24 hours later. He was 26. Last month, the VA agreed to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by his family. The award is not an admission of fault.

People can observe the centenary of the conflict’s end by joining Bells of Peace — a Veterans Day event also happening at churches, universities, cemeteries, ships at sea and war memorials worldwide.

The more than 200 veterans who ran for seats in the House and Senate was an uptick of former servicemembers seeking office, according to With Honor, a new “cross-partisan” group focused on electing candidates with military service to public office.

The number of homeless veterans across the U.S. declined more than 5 percent over the past year after a slight rise in 2017, the departments of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs announced Thursday.

A member of the Monuments Men — a group responsible for saving dozens of priceless artworks and artifacts stolen by the Nazis during World War II — died Sunday in New Jersey at age 92.

Military Update

By inserting two words — “deductibles, coinsurance” — into the revised rule, VA successfully neutralized the impact of the 2016 Staab decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims to save the department billions of dollars.

Essay

Foster B. Stevens, 83 Co. U.S. Marines, died in France on Nov. 2, just nine days before the Nov. 11, 1918, armistice that ended World War I. But exactly where and how he served - and where and how he died - was a mystery.

A section of road will be named for acclaimed actor and Marine Corps veteran R. Lee Ermey during a ceremony on Nov. 10, the Marine Corps’ birthday, according to a fundraising page.

The VA gave a software company a $10 billion no-bid contract to replace the agency’s records system. The new system is supposed to synchronize with data from other providers, as the VA increasingly sends veterans to private doctors instead of treating them in-house.

A Texas Republican congressional candidate has chided "Saturday Night Live" comic Pete Davidson for poking fun of the eyepatch he wears because he was badly wounded during his third tour in Afghanistan as a Navy SEAL.

A New Jersey man who killed a Navy veteran's service dog in training has been sentenced to 90 days in jail.

Napa County sheriff's Deputy Steve Lombardi got to the Northern California veterans home four minutes after getting the "active shooter" report and, with his rifle at the ready, raced to the second floor where the heavily armed gunman was holed up in a room with three female hostages, according to investigators.

During the visit to Fort Bragg, Hubert Edwards shared stories from the 37 months he spent fighting in World War II. That included 660 days on the front lines, spread across four major invasions that included North Africa, Sicily, Italy and France.

According to the indictment, Paul Anthony Long II, who had power of attorney to pay bills for his grandfather, wrote checks to himself and his wife, paid credit-card bills and withdrew more than $100,000 from automatic teller machines.

Stand Up for Heroes raises money for programs for injured veterans and their families.

After a more than two-year-long, $30 million renovation that touched nearly every part of the building and grounds, the Soldiers Memorial reopened in downtown St. Louis Saturday with fanfare and a host of new exhibits.

Shortly before its unveiling Friday on the façade of the 90-year-old Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial, Army Reservist Col. Kenneth Tafao told the small audience that the plaque “captures the spirit of World War I and the horrible conditions” troops faced – including chemical warfare and endless days in muddy trenches.