Announcements
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| The public is invited to post public service (veteran-related only) announcements on this page.
The announcements can be information about upcoming events, legislative actions, hospitalization of veterans,
Korean War or veteran-related programs soon to be televised, requests for assistance for veterans in immediate
need, etc. Send your announcement to
Lynnita Brown. [Most recent update: November 12, 2005]
Robert E. Wallace Letter Regarding VA & Veterans with PTSD
TO: All Concerned Veterans' Advocates
FROM: Robert E. Wallace, Executive Director
DATE: November 7, 2005
SUBJ: PTSD Review
The attached letter was broadcast faxed to every member of the House and Senate on Monday, November 7, 2005.
I cannot stress enough the importance of this issue. Please contact your legislators and let them know that we
will not tolerate this assault on America’s disabled veterans.
We need to overwhelm their district offices with phone calls. When calling, identify yourself as a voter,
constituent and concerned veteran. Tell them that this is a critical issue for all who have or will wear the
uniform. The time to do the right thing by our nations veterans is now!
Thank you for your continuous support of our VFW Legislative Priority Goals.
_____________________________________
November 7, 2005
TO: ALL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
Dear Senator or Representative:
We have, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW), observed for the past several months,
astonishing efforts to cast veterans who have been found to be severely disabled, by the Department of
Veterans Affairs’ (VA) own determinations, as undeserving of the veterans’ benefits that a grateful nation has
provided for them in the law.
This assault on the most vulnerable members of the veteran community, disabled in service to this country,
and suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is broad in its scope and execution. At a time when
the VA should be preparing to serve combat veterans returning from the war on terrorism being fought in Iraq,
Afghanistan, and elsewhere, they are expending their limited resources planning a systematic effort to reduce
or remove benefits earned by the parents and older siblings of the troops fighting in the field today.
The VA, in an extraordinary reversal of their expressed priorities, has apparently decided to ignore the
intolerable backlogs of more than 700,000 claims and appeals that they have created, in order to devote their
resources to a massive review of 72,000 cases, with the intent of denying the future payments necessary for
subsistence to severely mentally disabled combat veterans and their families. This review has nothing to do
with VA’s acknowledged error rate of about 15%. If that were the case, they would review all the cases,
including the many cases of veterans whom the VA has erroneously denied or under paid.
Instead, the VA is looking only at cases in which the veterans are totally dependent on the VA to survive,
and that the VA has already found eligible for compensation. Remarkably, the VA plans to reduce or cut off
mentally disabled veterans if they cannot recall the specific details of stressful events that occurred three
or more decades ago.
The absolute folly and moral bankruptcy of this plan is apparent to the United States Senate, who voted to
bar funding for it from the appropriation bill now in conference. We have heard, however, that the House
Leadership fully intends to strip this provision from the bill, and require the VA to execute this witch-hunt
of a review.
The VFW urges the Congress to put a stop to this wartime assault on past and present warriors who have
fought for, and continue to defend our country. Understand that this situation is totally unacceptable to the
VFW, and its 2.4 million members and auxiliaries. We will do what is necessary to protect, in Lincoln’s words,
"He who bore the battle, and his widow, and his orphan." These words are marked on the front of the VA
headquarters building. I urge you to take them to heart.
Sincerely,
ROBERT E. WALLACE
Executive Director
VFW Washington Office
cc: VFW National Officers
VFW Posts and Departments
VFW Auxiliary Leadership
CBS Special
"39 YEARS, 6 MONTHS, AND 4 DAYS"
Back in 1965, Robert Jenkins, an American soldier, did something impossible to understand: He deserted to
North Korea and got stuck there. For 39 years, 6 months and 4 days, he was trapped in a bizarre Stalinist
state, told by the government how to live, what to read, and even how often to have sex. In September 2004,
Jenkins reported back for duty at a U.S. base in Japan. Never before has an American lived among the secretive
North Koreans so long and escaped to tell the tale. Until he got out, Jenkins had little contact with the
outside world. He never laid a hand on a computer, didn’t know what a Big Mac was, and had never heard of a
show called "60 Minutes." For the whole story, watch Scott Pelley's exclusive interview with this American Rip
Van Winkle on 60 Minutes this Sunday, October 23, 7PM ET/PT on CBS.
Further details will be posted on the CBS website:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/07/08/60minutes/main13502.shtml, and the story itself will be posted
there from Sunday on. |
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Korean School Needs Your Help
Kenneth Harley is an American teacher in Seoul, Korea. He has sent out a plea for help in obtaining
reading books written in the English language. He writes:
Following is our information and website address...we would like to raise 20,000 books by within the
year. Where are we now in our book drive? My school has only a few English teenage to adult
books/reference books/comic books/dvds/easy reading literacy materials and I am trying to build more reading
materials by requesting donations from individuals, charity organizations, and book publishing companies.
Most students at our school are the children of hard working parents with modest incomes. English
materials are very expensive for students and schools to purchase. Some students have parents that may be
able to buy English books in the future. Most families have to focus on other needs that take a precedence
over the cost of buying English materials. Yet, in Korea, speaking, writing, and reading in English is a key
for our students to be able to get into a University and even gain in their potential for prosperity in the
future. Also, many adults that would not be able to further their English skills would benefit from these
materials as knowing English here increases the chance of low wages increasing!
I am wondering if you can send our school library a few sample books in English for our library or more
books from your company, organization or personal library and spread the word to your friends, family and
community organizations.
KWE visitors might want to help Kenneth build up the school's library. To donate books to the
elementary school's book drive, send them to the address below. To learn more about the school's need for
English books (for all ages from children to adults), visit the school's website at www.freewebs.com/hwawon or e-mail Kenneth at
kharley67@yahoo.com.
Send your book donations to my attention at Hwawon Middle School:
Kenneth Harley, English Department
Hwawon Middle School
San 144-4, Hwagok 7 dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, Korea
(02)2695-8441
What is the easiest and less costly way to ship to South Korea? Send your items to Ken by ship and it
takes 6-8 weeks but it is much less costly.
Marine Comfort Quilt Project
Guest speakers at the Douglas County Museum (Lynnita is the museum administration) on November 13 were Jan
Lang of Manchester, MO and Ava Tomson of Tolono, IL. These two ladies head the "Marine Comfort Quilts"
group. The group was founded by a couple of Marine moms and has grown to include many people from all
parts of the USA. Their focus is to make a Comfort Quilt for each American family that has lost a loved
one in Iraq. A "Comfort Quilt" is a full-sized quilt with 12.5x12.5 inch blocks with a message written
on each square. According to Lang and Tomson, "Each square delivers a message of love and comfort to
those families so they know that their loved one is not forgotten." The quilts that they showed at the
museum tonight were just beautiful, and their tales of family members' response to receiving the quilts was
very touching. To learn more about this very legitimate, dedicated group and to learn how you can
perhaps give them some help, log on to their website at www.Marinecomfortquilts.us. While their project isn't about the
Korean War, I posted this information on the KWE because of the Korean War Educator's appreciation for not
just Korean War veterans, but all veterans of all wars (and peacetime veterans, too). You are all very
special to us. War in whatever the decade is still war -- a miserable situation where America's youth
suffer, bleed, and die in defense of freedom -- and families cry.
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