1st Lt. Philip Howard Sauer will receive the Silver Star, one of the nation's highest awards for battlefield bravery, at a special posthumous honor ceremony at Camp Pendleton on Tuesday.

The Department of Veterans Affairs appointed Adam Robinson on Monday to lead its D.C. hospital for about four months, making him the third temporary leader of the facility since its director was fired last year.

A New York City soldier who died in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during World War II is being buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

A Navajo Code Talker who used his native language to confound the Japanese in World War II has died.

The family of a man shot Thursday afternoon while walking in Cleveland's Midtown district has started a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for his medical costs.

Mark Dziewior crafted a larger-than-life bronze sculpture of a German shepherd with its paw on a Vietnam-era military helmet as part of a K9 Veterans Memorial dedicated last year in Fort Atkinson.

A growing number of dissatisfied POW families are angry that enlisted POWs who survived captivity and made it home are denied full honors — most notably, an escort and the iconic horse-drawn caisson — at the nation’s most hallowed cemetery.

From 9 miles out at sea when an atomic bomb ignited at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, Frank Buzzelli, then 19, watched as the mushroom cloud swelled above the tiny island’s lagoon.

Armand Sedgeley never sought recognition for his actions during World War II when his B-17 Flying Fortress succumbed to enemy attack, but now, 74 years later, he awaits word on whether he will receive a Silver Star.

The nonprofit Ageless Aviation Dreams Foundation is taking former B-24 pilot Theodore “Ted” Spurgeon and seven other World War II veterans up in a Boeing Stearman biplane.

Staff at the St. Cloud VA Health Care System handed out 8,000 gun locks since October and hope to hand out at least 4,000 more as part of a ramped-up suicide prevention program.

Lance Cpl. Enrique Salas, a Persian Gulf War veteran who was deported to Mexico in 2006, was buried with military honors in a Reedley, Calif. cemetery on Friday beside his younger brother, another fallen Marine.

He wasn't much of a camper – certainly not in Arctic conditions – and he'd never been on a snowmobile. But when Marine veteran Jerry Pitzl heard about a crackpot plan for a Ski-Doo expedition to the North Pole in the late 1960s, he was eager to join. Not that he had much of a choice.

For Dr. Tom McDonald, the journey from his home in Ireland to an internship at Mayo Clinic in the mid-1960s included a year-long detour to Vietnam. That's just the shorthand version of how a physician who was not yet an American citizen ended up on the front lines of a war that most American men were anxious to avoid.

VIDEO

As a group of volunteers cleaned the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Saturday morning, they were joined by a man who was arguably the most important figure in the planning and construction of the wall that honors the more than 58,000 Americans who died in the conflict.

Johnny and James McClain were honored with 30 others at a recent ceremony at Camp Lejeune where They were presented with red suit jackets, T-shirts, plaques and soon-to-be-delivered rings, as the Marine Corps inducted them into its Boxing Hall of Fame.

Fred Finn, 94, served in the Navy during World War II as a member of the Seabees — Navy engineers and construction workers — who were tasked to repair or build infrastructure for Marine and Army personnel.

A powerful illegal opioid is causing tens of thousands of deaths, but a standoff between government researchers and federal law enforcement is keeping scientists from finding a way to stop it from killing.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam says the grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will be used to build a 108-bed facility in Bradley County.

The Army told soldiers stationed in South Korea on Thursday that they were not eligible for disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs after the service retracted a memorandum warning of bad batches of the anthrax vaccine.

A Connecticut agency issued new guidance Thursday warning employers they could be breaking the law if they discriminate against veterans with less-than-honorable discharges from the military.

Chief Executive Officer Mike Linnington said Wounded Warrior Project, which offers a myriad of services to wounded veterans and their families, has finally turned the corner after a long and difficult slump in donations.

The participants swivel about-face and continue to the next pose. Zibin Guo modified the ancient Chinese martial art to work from a seated position. Even though many of those in his class don’t rely on wheelchairs for mobility, using the mobile chairs makes it easier for them to get through a half-hour of movement.

The search is on in New Jersey for the relatives of a former soldier whose medal for service has been found decades after World War I.

Sen. Maggie Hassan said that the New Hampshire Veterans Home is integral to ensuring that veterans have the support they need to maintain their health and quality of life.

Leading the Department of Veterans Affairs would place Ronny Jackson — a Navy rear admiral who led a team of fewer than a dozen surgeons in Iraq and now heads a staff of 70 at the White House — atop an agency of more than 375,000 employees and a budget of more than $185 billion.

A little more than 100 miles of highway separate Fort Bragg from Camp Lejeune. Robert Wilkie, a top Department of Defense official and acting VA secretary, said the stretch of N.C. 24 is the most important road in America.

VIETNAM AT 50

If there was any doubt left about the significance of the new monument at Arlington National Cemetery honoring Vietnam War helicopter pilots and crewmembers, it was quashed Wednesday by the number of people who traveled from across the country to attend its dedication.

Tammie Jo Shults, a former fighter pilot with the U.S. Navy, is being hailed as a hero after successfully completing an emergency landing and sparing the lives of 148 people after an engine explosion Tuesday.

When he retired in 1981, Maj. Gen. Michael D. Healy was the nation's most senior Special Forces soldier. He was a veteran of wars in Korea and Vietnam, with his service in the latter spanning a decade and ending with him overseeing the withdrawal of troops from the country. And he was the inspiration for John Wayne's character in the 1968 film "The Green Berets."

A Utah couple that won $10,000 worth of groceries from a program that assists military families has pleaded guilty to unrelated theft charges at a department store where the woman worked.

Fifty years after writing the groundbreaking book "Aerobics" while in the military, Dr. Kenneth Cooper is not slowing down. The veteran's book is credited with launching the popularity of running and aerobic exercise.

A Phenix City, Ohio, American Legion commander accused of misappropriating $10,000 says the charges are false and he’s the victim of racism by some of his fellow legionnaires.

It has been five weeks now since a troubled former Army infantryman walked into a building where he had once lived at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville and shot to death three mental health clinicians before killing himself.

Following his first meeting with Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician and VA secretary nominee, Sen. Jon Tester said Jackson’s views on private-sector medical care fell in line with the views of former VA Secretary David Shulkin.

The chief information officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs resigned Tuesday, prompting questions about what will happen with the agency’s planned modernization efforts.

Robert Heitger Sr. likely learned some of his caring ways from his father and grandfather, but his son Jeffrey Heitger said a lot of it came from his time in the service. His son said what he saw in World War II made him a more compassionate person.

Funeral services are this weekend for a Louisiana soldier captured during the Korean War, whose remains were recovered last year.

The suicide of a veteran at John Cochran VA Medical Center in St. Louis last month is the latest in a string of such deaths on Veterans Affairs properties nationwide.

Albert Poawui and a vocational counselor at VA agreed Poawui would pay a 7 percent cash kickback for more than $2.2 million in VA payments to his company.

The Trump administration announced plans Monday to make it easier for permanently disabled military veterans to have their federal student debt wiped away.

Armed to Farm, a national initiative that provides training in sustainable agriculture to military veterans free of charge, is coming to Troy this summer.

R. Lee Ermey, the Vietnam veteran famous for playing a hard-bitten Marine Corps drill instructor in the Academy Award-nominated film “Full Metal Jacket,” has died at age 74.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., hosted a special roundtable discussion on opioid misuse and abuse on Friday with leaders from Fort Bragg, the Defense Health Agency, the Department of Veteran Affairs and civilian health care systems.

Pat Gjerde wasn’t old enough to buy a beer by the time he became a disabled veteran. But more than 20 years after his first deployment, he re-enlisted and went to Afghanistan to fight again for his country.

Kallen O’Neal Staggs, 9, whose father died in Afghanistan in 2010, walked more than 10 miles during Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.

Mike Shults never knew Howard Knowles. But his passion for helping a fellow veteran 23 years after Knowles' death has led to the war hero finally getting the military benefits he earned and helped his family know what happened to his remains.

Four veterans representing countless others have been sticking their necks out to advocate for the legalization of medical cannabis in Louisiana.

Officially opening on Sunday, the home in Brunswick, Md., already has a waiting list and will expand the nonprofit program’s mission to offer stability and encouragement to those working through addiction.

As a case manager at Keesler Medical Center in Mississippi, retired Army nurse Donna Anderson sees "the struggles the local servicemen and women" endure when they make the transition from active duty to civilian status. So, in 2011, she founded Combat Wounded Veterans of South Mississippi to help wounded veterans with emergency financial needs.

A decorated former U.S. Army paratrooper whose work on behalf of deported veterans drew widespread attention to his cause became a U.S. citizen Friday, giving immigration advocates a rare reason to celebrate.

Prosecutors in Florida agree that an Iraq war veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder was systematically bullied by his neighbors.

Johnny Bobbitt has traded life on the streets for the refuge of a camper in rural Burlington County. But he continues to battle the demons that left him homeless under an I-95 bridge in Philadelphia.

It took a Facebook group, a search team and a lot of patience, but a Collinsville man and his emotional support dog were finally reunited, three weeks after they were separated by a car crash.

Across America, airlines are facing an unprecedented shortage of pilots, with some estimates indicating U.S. airlines could be short 14,000 pilots in 10 years. So some flight schools and airlines are actively recruiting people who traditionally haven’t been pilots: women.

The remains of a Pennsylvania soldier who was captured during the Korean War and died at a prisoner of war camp have been identified and will be buried next week.

Retired Gen. Marcia Anderson says her path to success was littered with inaccurate, negative labels placed on her by others that she shook off and used for motivation rather than let them deter her.

Documents obtained by Stars and Stripes outline seven instances of procedures being delayed or postponed at the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs hospital because of supply shortages. The VA claims the last time that happened was in January.

MILITARY UPDATE

An April 3 ruling in Saunders v. Wilkie, if it stands, could benefit thousands of veterans who have had Department of Veterans Affairs compensation claims for pain denied for lack of a medical diagnosis.

Comments from several GOP senators, particularly those with influence on veterans' issues, signal that Ronny L. Jackson will have to work overtime to persuade not just Democrats but Trump's own party that he is qualified to oversee the beleaguered agency.

After leaving the military, Jessica Harris started K9 Salute, to recognize the sacrifice of police canines and donate to organizations that support these service dogs. The company makes all-natural dog treats.

President Donald Trump, and the conservative groups advising him, has seized on the long waits many veterans face at government facilities as grounds for aggressively expanding a program that enables patients to seek services from private providers at taxpayer expense.

Karen Vaughn, a Stuart, Florida resident who spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention about the death of her Navy SEAL son in Afghanistan, said she was encouraged to challenge U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Palm City, in a Republican primary.

Many of the relics had been taken from the bodies of fallen servicemembers, making the crime even more shocking, according to those who spoke at his sentencing hearing.

New Hampshire's governor has extended an executive order allowing physicians from the Manchester Veterans Affairs Medical Center to treat patients at outside facilities while the flood-damaged VA hospital is being renovated.

The state-run veterans home where a former soldier murdered three women last month had security shortcomings that the California Highway Patrol identified in 2010, according to a report obtained by The Sacramento Bee.

The director of the beleaguered Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Washington was reassigned Monday amid ongoing problems at the hospital and an investigation into whether his appointment broke federal protocols.

Residents of the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Gulfport, Miss. and in Washington, D.C. were informed in a meeting Monday that their rent, currently capped at 40 percent of their income, now will be capped at 60 percent.

Craig Beemer said he has agreed to a $500,000 settlement with the Kansas City VA Medical Center for the death of his father, an 84-year-old U.S. Navy veteran.

Robert Wilkie wrote in a statement that the VA and Congress need to come together to overhaul the VA Choice program, which veterans use to receive private-sector medical care.

At 16, Daniel Perlinger signed up for the Marine Corps knowing it would be his ticket to Vietnam. He said he did not know much about life at the time, but he was certain about one thing: Vietnam would provide him with a chance to vent his anger.

Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson also was nominated by the president for promotion to two-star admiral in the days leading to VA Secretary David Shulkin’s departure late last month.

Three World War II veterans who put country above self and their educations have been awarded their honorary high school diplomas at the Blount County Courthouse in Maryville, Tenn.

David Moore, 27, who said he suffers from PTSD, said his comfort animal, a 5-pound, 14-month-old Chihuahua named Angel, was beaten March 31 by his live-in girlfriend.

ANALYSIS

As Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin battled last month to keep his job, his fate hinged in part on Concerned Veterans for America, a once-obscure advocacy group backed by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch.

Cato Stedman was one of at least three black soldiers who enlisted in the Cambridge militia company during the Revolutionary War. A historian said he recently discovered evidence that indicates that Stedman was buried next to his former slave owner in the Old Burial Ground in Harvard Square.

Eugene Lysne, Dwayne “Whitey” Hagen, Bill Neff, Bill Christianson, Vern Strand and Duane Hatleli will be included on the 19th honor flight, which leaves the Twin Cities on Saturday for D.C.

On Friday, Pvt. Felix Nils Olson, a veteran of World War I, was among 30 veterans honored with "Taps" and a flag presentation ceremony.

Navy veteran Brian Flick came up with the idea for a veterans shelter before he graduated from Penn State Shenango in 2015. When a professor gave him an assignment to create his own mock non-profit agency, Flick decided his class project would focus on helping veterans.

For the first time in many years, Bobby Ivey, 84, has proof of his Army service, more than six decades after he last wore an Army uniform.

Initially buried on the beach and recovered after the war, Marine Corps Pvt. John M. Tillman’s remains were interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, but he was buried as an “unknown.”

The National Capital Planning Commission unanimously chose a location on the National Mall for the new National Desert Storm and Desert Shield War Memorial, putting the group at odds with another commission that also has a say in the selection process.

Daniel Akaka, a liberal Democrat from Hawaii who served in both houses of Congress and quietly devoted himself to looking after the interests of his home islands during more than 35 years on Capitol Hill, died April 6 in Honolulu. He was 93.

The Department of Veterans Affairs issued an official news release Thursday afternoon, attempting to debunk warnings of any effort in President Donald Trump’s administration to privatize the agency’s vast health care system.

ANALYSIS

A broken refrigerator in the blood bank. Dirty syringe bottles. Critical staff and supply shortages that led to canceled procedures. Unsanitary equipment and rooms in disarray. All were found in the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Washington.

ANALYSIS

Several hospitals in the Department of Veterans Affairs health care system have been the subject of scandal in the past year, ranging from unsanitary conditions in Washington to misconduct in Roseburg, Ore., and poor patient care in Manchester, N.H.

Gallery

Thomas Hudner, a former U.S. Navy pilot who received the Medal of Honor for his heroics in the Korean War, was buried Wednesday at Arlington National Cemetery.

Patti Gomez-Michalkow, a New York Army National Guard veteran, was crowned Mrs. New York in March 2018 during a pageant in Rochester.

Willie Watts Jr., 81, died less than two months after he laid down his life, according to police and family members, to protect his wife. A robber – police arrested a 16-year-old boy in the crime – attacked the Watts in their driveway and Willie Watts draped his body over his wife, taking the brunt of the attack.

New acting Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie addressed VA employees Wednesday in his first public message since President Donald Trump appointed him to the post last week.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement appears to have ignored a directive from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to prevent the deportation of noncitizen troops and veterans, seeking to remove a Chinese immigrant despite laws that allow veterans with honorable service to naturalize, court filings show.

When Eugene Buell returned from his serving with the Army in Vietnam, where he spent his time working with helicopters and gun ships and doing "whatever" needed doing, he said that he was more likely to be spat at than thanked for his service.

President Donald Trump named Robert Wilkie VA's acting secretary last week, pending Senate confirmation of Ronny Jackson, a Navy admiral and White House physician. Wilkie could be in the job for months.

When finished, VA’s Chula Vista campus will hike the number of appointments available to former military personnel. The new complex will feature 236 parking spaces, but the but the high-tech building is designed to be more friendly to the environment.

Miami producers have signed a major production deal for a TV series about the exile soldiers who invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.

A $12 million facility dedicated to treating and diagnosing military personnel with traumatic brain injuries and psychological health conditions opens Thursday morning at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

TriWest Healthcare Alliance, which contracts with the Department of Veterans Affairs to arrange private-sector care for veterans through the VA Choice program, warned Tuesday in an apocalyptic letter to lawmakers that another funding shortfall could lead to restricted care for veterans, as well as layoffs and financial ruin for the alliance.

A large, national veterans organization is calling on President Donald Trump to remove new acting Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie amid confusion over who should be running the agency legally.

"Bloody Sunday" resulted in 53 aircraft being shot down and 660 air crew members being killed, including Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. William H. Harth Jr. For decades, Harth's remains had been buried, unidentified, in a Belgian cemetery.

A site for the new Traverse City clinic has been chosen by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, with construction of the 22,000-square-foot health clinic slated to move forward in the upcoming year.