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Last year saw a number of firsts for female veterans across the country. From the deep southern lands of Alabama to the Great Lakes bordering Minnesota and the mountain ranges of Nevada, female veterans etched their names in the histories of the nation’s military services. For Women’s History Month, VFW salutes all female veterans and h...
A VFW Member in Connecticut helped organize a project that will bring a much-needed veterans monument to the town of Stonington. Anthony Lombardo, who served in Panama during the Korean War, said that Stonington, Connecticut, only has one veterans monument, which commemorates the town’s veterans of World War I. Lombardo, who served in the Arm...
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Marc Garduno was elected quartermaster general of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States today by special election of the National Council of Administration to fill a vacancy in the position due to the retirement of Debra Anderson. "I’m so thrilled and honored to be in this position,” said Garduno. &l...
Three VFW Posts in Georgia were named for women who made an impact in both the military and the combat veterans’ organization. VFW Department of Georgia State Quartermaster Jeff Carroll, who was an All-American State Commander in 2019 through 2020, said he believes that Posts should be named after anyone who earns it. “I think women pla...
The plan had consisted of a fundraiser to raise money for an operation at the Mayo Clinic on behalf of veteran Greg Crane, but things changed. When VFW Post 280 members in Columbia, Missouri, heard that their fellow member had died on the operating table, they contacted his family to ask if they wanted to continue with the fundraiser. Through adver...
The three oldest children of Malcolm Loepke well remember Aug. 17, 1969. Chris, the oldest who was 13 at the time, remembers the knock on the door of his family’s Elwood, Ind., apartment. Dawn, who was then 11, remembers pulling into the parking lot with her mom, Diane, and her younger brother, Don. Dawn recalled her mother letting out a gas...
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD as it is commonly called, is a mental health problem you may develop after experiencing traumatic events. The condition was first recognized in war veterans. It has had different names in the past, such as “shell shock”, but it is not only diagnosed in solders. A wide range of traumatic experience...
Debra Lewis vividly recalls the extra dessert placed at her table in the cavernous mess hall during her first week at West Point in 1976. She was among the first group of women allowed to enter the military academy that year but quickly realized that not all were so welcoming. In that medieval-like dining hall, hazing was all too common, said Lewis...
Stacy Whitmore, 54, served in the Air Force for four years and the Army National Guard for 18. Her reasons for enlisting were many. “I joined because my dad was in the Army. I was a military brat. Because of that, after high school, I wanted to make a difference,” she said. “As an adult, I wanted to travel and show my husband and ...
Living in his mother’s home in 2001, Fernando Smith Jr. was ready to make a change. “All my friends were growing up, while I was living a sheltered lifestyle,” he explained. “I wanted to learn to be an adult, too.” Smith realized the military could help him achieve his goals. For four years, he was stationed at Mountai...
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