Few Air Force legends are on par with the story of the "All American III," a B-17 Flying Fortress Bomber that survived a mid-air collision with a Nazi fighter but still - somehow - made it home. It was the subject of one of the war's most famous photographs (no small feat) and may have inspired the phrase "A Wing and a Prayer."

Over the years, a story as miraculous as the crew of the "All American" (as it's come to be known) is bound to grow some misconceptions. Details get lost to history, and falsehoods get attached in the retelling, but the plane's bombardier, Ralph Burbridge, set the record straight before he died at age 92 in 2013. 

Burbridge joined the U.S. Army Air Corps before the United States entered World War II. By the time the Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor, he was getting his bombardier's wings pinned on. 

His first missions in the war were over the Gulf of Mexico, looking for German submarines. Next came bombing missions over France. He and his crew soon found themselves based in Algeria, attacking Axis targets in North Africa.

The day that would make him and his fellow crewman famous came on February 1, 1943. The All-American took its place in the 414th Bombardment Squadron to make an attack on the Nazi-controlled Mediterranean ports of Bizerte and Tunis. Their mission was a success, and the plane went over the target without incident. 

It was on their trip back to base in Biskra, Algeria, that they and their B-17 would enter the history books. Although unscathed by anti-aircraft fire, the bombers were met by the German Luftwaffe as they flew home. Messerschmitt Bf-109 fighters swarmed their formation.

Two enemy fighters came right at the American bombers. One plane was flying directly at the lead aircraft in the formation. The other was coming at All-American from its starboard side. As a squadron, the nose gunners of the B-17s were able to bring down the Bf-109 flying at the lead plane. The other fighter probably wished he'd been shot down - or was a better pilot.

"His wings looked as though they were afire from his flaming guns," Burbridge said in a 2012 interview.

When the German pilot was about 300 yards away, he began a roll to pull down and away from the All-American after his attack run.

"About halfway through his roll, either my fire or fire from the lead ship must have killed the pilot or disabled the plane," said Burbridge. "He never completed his intended roll and rapid pass under our ship."

The German plane tore through the B-17 bomber's top fuselage, almost chopping off the entire tail section of the aircraft. The only thing keeping it on the rest of the plane was the metal airframe. The diagonal section cut off by the fighter missed the airframe in the tail, though it did cut out the left horizontal stabilizer. 

All the crewmembers of All-American III hurriedly donned parachutes and prepared to bail out of the plane, but nothing happened. The plane was forced to move slower, but the rest of the bombers stayed in a defensive formation until they were in safer airspace, then headed back to base. 

All-American's trip would take longer than expected. It had a gaping gash in the tail section, after all. 

"​​It seemed like the trip back took ten years, but the base wasn't really that far," Burbridge said. "Somehow, Kenny [Bragg - the pilot of the plane] nursed the damaged plane and got us home later than everyone else."

What was left of the tail section and the right stabilizer shook so hard in flight that the crew thought it would fall apart any second. It was effectively crippled and flying slow, but it was still flying, and that's all that mattered in that moment.

It eventually returned to base and managed to land without its rear wheel. It not only survived the landing but survived a 100-yard skid as the plane slowed to a halt. Ground crews had all but given up hope for the aircraft, so the crew - who all survived the ordeal - landed to a welcome.

The plane held together once on that ground and didn't break apart until ground crews had climbed aboard to inspect the tail section. The event would also lead to a complete change in the 414th Bombardier Squadron's patch and logo.
 

Have you claimed your FREE Military Service Plaque yet? This attractive custom presentation, which can be accessed via the 'Plaque" button on your Profile Page, contains a visual summary of your military service including service photo, ribbon rack, badges, primary unit patch, and sleeve insignia.

Your plaque is very versatile. It can be printed out as an 11"x 6" landscape print and framed. You can also upload your Plaque to your cellphone which is perfectly sized to display as a convenient Veteran ID or printed out as a business card.

Login to Together We Served today to view your FREE Military Service Plaque and add any information needed to complete.

"Have you ever been inside a hamburger machine?" Sgt. James Spears asked reporters in 1969 after capturing Hill 937 in Vietnam's A Shau Valley. "We just got cut to pieces by extremely accurate machine gun fire."

The Battle for Hill 937 was a costly one for both sides of the fighting. It required at least a dozen assaults from American troops who believed they were taking one of the largest North Vietnamese headquarters complexes in the country.

After nearly 11 days, 72 Americans were dead on Hill 937, with nearly 400 more wounded. The North Vietnamese Army (PAVN) lost 630 men as the U.S. finally took control of the hill. Then just a few days after wrestling it away from the enemy, the Americans abandoned it.

For the days and decades afterward, everyone from military officers, journalists, and politicians to the troops who fought in the battle would not only question the tactics used but the military significance of what would come to be known as "Hamburger Hill."

The Battle of Hamburger Hill came in May 1969, as the U.S. and South Vietnamese forces fought to destroy North Vietnamese bases of operation in the A Shau Valley. The communists were using the valley to infiltrate South Vietnam through neighboring Laos. 

The plan was for three battalions from 101st Airborne Division to conduct a reconnaissance in force into the valley, looking for North Vietnamese troops, weapons, and supplies. They would then destroy any they might find. Meanwhile, Marines and U.S. Army cavalry would cut off any possible retreat into Laos. 

American troops on the ground knew that North Vietnamese regular units would aggressively resist any U.S. advance, but only for a short time. The communists would be forced to clear out before the U.S. could bring its superior firepower into the fighting. Prolonged, intense combat between the two sides, like the fighting seen at Ia Drang, occurred infrequently but was bloody when it did happen. 

A Shau was a crucial stop along the Ho Chi Minh Trail for the communists, which meant that both sides wanted to clear the enemy out of the area. For the communists, the valley was a lifeline. For the Americans, it was a centerpiece of putting maximum pressure on the enemy as it moved.

But dense jungle and its remote location made it difficult to move men and materiel or gather intelligence in the valley. The Americans would have to get their information the old-fashioned way: combat patrols and captured prisoners. 

The little information they could gather would not tell them one of the PAVN units in the area was a battle-hardened group of communist veterans known as "The Pride of Ho Chi Minh" or that the coming battle was going to be bloody and violent. 

At Hill 937, two battalions of PAVN forces decided they would make one of those intense stands against the 101st. The 3rd Battalion, 187th Regiment arrived to take the hill on May 10, 1969, expecting to reach the top within hours. It would take nearly ten days. 

The first attacks came on May 10, but the 3/178th was not at full strength, as much of the unit was still trying to march through the dense jungle foliage. The full unit would not arrive until May 19th. On the other side of the hill, 1/506th was making attacks to determine the level of resistance on that slope. 

The Airborne troops made multiple frontal attacks on the communist defenders on May 14th as more reinforcements arrived. They made little progress but took heavy casualties. The defenses of the hill were well-organized and planned. 

The approaches to the hill were narrow trails that created a bottleneck for the attacker, forcing the Americans to attack in smaller formations. Unable to capitalize on their numbers, the U.S. troops were funneled into prepared fields of enemy machine-gun fire, which was devastating during the frontal assaults. Once forced to fall back, American forces called in artillery fire, but that too was ineffective. The prepared defenses on the hill were both well-hidden and reinforced.

Over the course of 12 assaults, the Army dropped more than 1,000 tons of bombs, 142 tons of napalm, 31,000 20-mm shells, and 513 tons of tear gas on Hill 937. By May 18th, soldiers and reporters alike were referring to the fight as "The Battle of Hamburger Hill." 

The closest the Army came to taking the hill before they were fully reinforced came on May 18th. The 3/187th engaged entrenched PAVN defenders in close quarters combat with small arms and grenades. Just 75 meters from the summit, the Americans struggled to coordinate one final assault. A chance thunderstorm ended that day's fighting early, and the 3/187th was forced to withdraw. 

Finally, the Army moved in two fresh battalions of infantry to join the others, even though the first battalions had paid a high cost for their previous assaults. With reinforcements in place, the Americans launched a four-battalion attack of Hill 937 on May 20, 1969. Within two hours, they reached the top and cleared the hill of enemy forces within the next three hours. 

On June 5th, the 101st Airborne's new commander abandoned HIll 937, as he deemed it had no military value. The next fight over Hamburger Hill would take place in Washington, as it led Congressmen and Senators to fight over American strategy in Vietnam. 
 

Do you have old photos from your service days stashed away in a drawer or in a shoe box in your attic? Old photos fade with time and if they are not scanned and preserved digitally, they risk eventually being lost forever.

This is where TWS can help. We have just invested in a high quality Fujitsu book and photo scanner that can scan any size of photo or yearbook. As a service to our members, we would like to offer you a free photo scanning service for your most significant photos from your service which we will then return to you, in original condition, along with a CD containing your photo files.

In addition, we can upload your photos for you to your Photo Album on your TWS Service Profile which will also appear in your Shadow box and available to you to access or download at any time.

Please contact us at Admin@togetherweserved.com for full details on this Free Service.

Timing can be critical when conducting a military operation. During World War II, it wasn't just the men in combat who depended on accurate timing. The rest of the millions of Allied service members and potentially the entire free world relied on precision watches. 

Like most critical supplies, the Allies knew that their troops required timekeeping devices that could withstand any of the dangers of modern combat, even if they weren't sure what the fighting would look like. The A-11 spec wristwatch was designed to be the timepiece that survived the war; even its wearer did not.

Veteran-inspired watchmaker Praesidus is bringing back the quality of that original design with a new line of recreated vintage tool watches inspired by the original World War II A-11 spec. The design of its latest watch, the A-11 Vince Speranza Edition, is inspired by the story of Speranza, the parachute infantry regiment, and the .30-caliber machine gun Speranza used at the Battle of the Bulge.

Tens of thousands of A-11 watches were made during World War II. It featured a single-piece strap, high contrast white lettering on a black background, and a solid case made of nickel or silver. The specifications for this military watch also included hand-winding, an outer minute track with 10-minute demarcations, and minute and hour hands.

Other modifications to the original spec were allowed, though the U.S. Navy required lumed numbers for its aviators. The watch proved so solid and reliable that the rest of the Allied forces requested it - even the Soviet Union. 

The latest version pays tribute to Vince Speranza, a soldier who fought at the Battle of the Bulge using an M1919 Browning .30-caliber machine gun. He landed in Europe with the 101st Airborne Division's 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment. He was one of the "Battered Bastards of Bastogne," who held the city, even in the face of a massive Nazi counterattack that left the city and its defenders surrounded.

The design of Praesidus' A-11 "Vince Speranza" watch is based on the famous soldier and his weapon. The stainless steel case back features a replica of an M1919 bullet. The strap comes in two options: the M1919 Barrel and the machine gunner. Assembled in the United States, it's powered by an automatic movement and features double-domed, scratch-resistant sapphire glass.

It even comes in a humidor box in honor of the cigar-chomping Vince "Machine Gunner of Bastogne" Speranza.

Praesidus is a veteran-driven watch brand that aims to recreate the timepieces worn by WWII heroes. Along with Speranza, the company has also honored Thomas Marcus Rice, another paratrooper with the 501st who jumped into Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Rice famously lost his watch in that jump. When Rice turned 97, Praesidus recreated the A-11 watch he'd lost.

The watchmaker's goal is to bring the spirit of American soldiers to a new generation so they can continue telling the stories of courage, heroism, and patriotism in the future - stories that might otherwise be forgotten to history. It has an entire line of watches available on the Praesidius website.

Like the original A-11, Praesidus' recreation is a simple, accurate, high-grade wristwatch that can stand up to the rigors of time and combat. The only difference is that the recreation might be a little sturdier, as the 21st-Century watchmaker can use durable materials that weren't available due to World War II rationing.

Together We Served has a growing archive of more than 23,000 Boot Camp/ Basic Training Graduation Photos which we now display on your Military Service Page and Shadow Box. We also have a growing collection of Yearbooks which we will be made available on the site shortly.

We are still searching for Boot Camp/ Basic Training Photos and Yearbooks. So if you have yours available, please contact us at Admin@togetherweserved.com.

Either you can send us a scanned file of your photo or you can send it to us for scanning. We will add this for you to the Recruit/ Officer Training section of your Military Service Page.

All photos and yearbooks will be returned to you in the original condition along with a CD containing your scanned photo.

In stark contrast with the mission of combat forces, the US Army Medical Corps is committed to providing aid and comfort to the injured: wounded soldiers, civilians, and at times even enemy personnel. There are no medals, no glory, and heroism is measured in blood, sweat, and tears. Though the Korean War has been regarded as a failure by many because of its indecisive outcomes, in one area, it was an unbridled success-saving lives. When the war broke out in Korea on June 25, 1950, only two hundred doctors were in the entire Far East Command (Japan, Guam, the Philippines, and Korea). To ensure combat medical services, Congress quickly passed the Doctors Draft Act, requiring all doctors under the age of fifty-one to register for military service. As a result, ninety percent of all staff doctors in Korea were draftees, displaying a more relaxed attitude about Army rules, regulations, and discipline. At this same time, the Army authorized new medical procedures and deployed groundbreaking methods for transport and treatment of the injured, effectively reinventing combat care. One such development was the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH), popularized by Dr. H. Richard Hornberger, in his 1968 best-selling book (MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors), subsequent movie, and television series based on his real-life experience with the MASH 8055th.

In World War II, the fatality rate for seriously wounded soldiers was 4.5 percent. In the Korean War, that number was cut almost in half, to 2.5 percent. That success is attributed to a combination of the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, or MASH unit, and the aeromedical evacuation system comprised of the casualty evacuation (casevac) and medical evacuation (medevac) helicopters. Comprised of a series of tents and buildings that could be easily relocated as the front lines moved, the MASH units moved with them to keep the units as close to the front as possible. To accomplish this, accommodations were stark, with operating tables formed by a stretcher balanced across two sawhorses. In past conflicts, wounded soldiers often had to wait hours to be treated, but thanks to the MASH units and the helicopters that brought in the wounded, the wait time was reduced to minutes. As the centerpiece of the Army's medical innovations, these mobile units were fully self-contained, working hospitals, first conceived in 1945 at the close of World War II and the brainchild of Dr. Michael DeBakey. Aside from the constant stress of warfare and long hours in surgery, the units usually picked up and moved at least once a month, which came to be known as “bugging out." Specifically, standards for a MASH required that it was disassembled, loaded onto vehicles, and ready to depart on a six-hour notice. After arrival at its new destination, it was operational within four hours.

In Korea, US soldiers wounded at the battlefront were first attended to on-site by medics and doctors attached to their unit. If the injuries were severe, the men were then evacuated to a MASH unit for surgery and recovery. If warranted, the soldiers were evacuated to a larger hospital for treatment and, if very serious, sent home from there. Initially limited to 60 beds to focus on mobility, with only seven MASH units in Korea (8054th, 8055th, 8063rd, 8076th, 8209th, 8225th, and 8228th), the hospitals were often overwhelmed with wounded and enlarged to 150 beds in November 1950, and again in May 1951 to 200. With the Doctor's Draft Act of 1950, the timing of this expansion worked well for draftees that began to arrive in January 1951.

Similarly, about 540 nurses served tours of duty on the Korean peninsula. Though women weren't allowed on the front lines in combat roles, these nurses served close to the front lines and sometimes in the line of fire. In fact, by the end of the war, Army nurses had received 9 Legions of Merit, 120 Bronze Stars, and 173 Commendation Ribbons.

Much like MASH units, in the early 1950s, the helicopter was still in its infancy. A few made an appearance in the last days of World War II, but now they would be tested on the front lines in Korea. The helicopters carried no guns; they were equipped only with exterior pods and stretchers to extract wounded from the battlefield. They were fragile, high-maintenance aircraft with limited range. The early models had no radio or instrument lights in their cockpits. They couldn't operate in bad weather, were limited on where they could land and were fatally vulnerable to enemy ground fire. In January 1951, four aeromedical evacuation helicopter detachments arrived in Korea, medevacs that would transport more than 20,000 casualties during the war, with one pilot (1st Lt. Joseph L. Bowler) setting a record of 824 medical evacuations over a 10-month period. Perhaps a measure of the helicopter's impact is evident with the successful evacuation of 750 critically wounded soldiers in one day, Feb. 20, 1951, half of whom would have died, according to one surgeon, if only ground transportation had been used. Once the choppers arrived with their wounded, the medical teams unloaded the patients and prepared them for surgery. “There were times when the medical personnel were overloaded, so the pilots would help bring in the wounded and even help the doctors with instruments from time to time."

Richard Kirkland had always wanted to fly, a dream he'd had since he was a young boy. During World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps and was about to deploy as a member of the 3rd Rescue Squadron flying helicopters. On one of his first nights in Korea, he was introduced to many of the doctors and nurses of the MASH 8055th. There Richard was befriended by two men who would later be commemorated in print and inspire generations through film and television. “One of the surgeons shook hands, saying, ‘They call me Hawkeye- welcome to MASH. The M stands for mud." This, of course, was Dr. Hornberger, who later wrote about his experience with the 8055th under the pen name Richard Hooker. A second tent mate, Capt. Michael Johnson was the basis for the character Trapper John. In Korea, Hornberger pioneered a kind of surgery that was prohibited during the war. “Hornberger possessed the courage and audacity to attempt arterial repair when it was forbidden, and by one account, he may have been the first." Despite the rules and encouraged by early success, with the routine use of vascular surgery during the Korean War, doctors reduced the amputation rate resulting from vascular injury to 20.5 percent from 49.6 percent during World War II.

In a broad sense, with MASH units in place, the Korean War provided an opportunity to study and test new equipment and procedures, many of which would become standards of care in both military and civilian medicine; vascular reconstruction, artificial kidneys, improved cold weather treatments, the newest antibiotics, and other drugs (anticoagulant heparin, sedative Nembutal, serum albumin and whole blood to treat shock) that advanced medical care. In addition, computerized data collection (in the form of computer punch cards) and the use of plastic bags for the transport and handling of blood- a method later adopted around the world and still used today.
  
Life in a MASH unit varied greatly between boredom and endless hours of surgery due to overwhelming casualties. During a “push" (offensive front-line action), the wounded streamed into the operating room for days. Otto Apel, a MASH doctor, remembers, "Seventy-two hours after I had arrived at MASH 8076, I had lost the sense of feeling in my feet. I do not think I had spoken to anyone ... for at least twelve hours." Dr. Apel, it turned out, had performed non-stop surgeries for eighty hours upon his arrival. Harold Secor, a surgeon for the 8055th, recalls that staffing was lean, perhaps thirty corpsmen, ten doctors, ten nurses, one dentist, two service corps officers, and about thirty Koreans. Compounding matters was the units' proximity to the front line. The 8055th was generally four to five miles behind the front lines, and according to Dr. Secor, "If they pulled back very far, we were on the enemy side; that happened at least once.  We had a minefield in our front yard.  There was always some danger, even from our own artillery firing over us.  We had sandbags around the patient tents to stop stray bullets".  Secor remembered that one day, "a bullet zinged into the mess tent, hit a post, and splashed into a cup of coffee." He said, "This was one of the accepted things that it didn't pay to dwell on."

Harold Selly was an Army medic, part of a forward collecting station team. “We were always in danger of being attacked or overrun by the enemy, shelled by artillery and mortars, and grenades thrown into the station," he recalled.

As United Nations (U.N.) troops crossed the 38th parallel and advanced north in the fall of 1950, they encountered a civilian population decimated by epidemics of typhus, smallpox, and typhoid. In addition, captured North Korean and later Chinese troops were ill with these and other contagious diseases. But most troubling was mentions of men turning black as they died, suggesting bubonic plague - the Black Death - was in Korea. But as it turned out, the plague was actually a virulent form of smallpox known as hemorrhagic smallpox. As a result, the 8228th MASH was established for the sole purpose of eradicating these diseases among enemy and civilian populations.

By late 1951, the front line stopped moving and, for the most part, remained in place until the war was over in 1953, negating the need for hospital mobility. Accordingly, the MASH units were replaced with smaller, more efficient combat surgical hospitals (CSH) and forward surgical teams (FST). At the turn of the twenty-first century, there was only one MASH unit left in the world, in Albania, the last to be deactivated in February 2006. Nonetheless, MASH units and the helicopter evacuations developed during the Korean War became the standard for operations in Vietnam and later Operation Iraqi Freedom. The visionary surgeon and inventor Dr. Debakey went on to become renowned for pioneering developments, including coronary bypass operations, carotid endarterectomy, artificial hearts, and ventricular assist devices, grafts to replace or repair blood vessels, and surgical repairs of aortic aneurysms, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Science, and the Congressional Gold Medal. Despite this acclaim, perhaps the most remarkable contribution centered on a brief and often forgotten moment in time, in a faraway land, where citizen surgeons and nurses gathered to defend freedom, advance medical science, and risk everything to save lives.

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Rodolfo "Rudy" Hernandez joined the Army at age 17 and became a paratrooper in 1948. When the Korean War broke out in 1950, he was sent to Korea with the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team. From there, his life changed forever.

On May 31, 1951, Hernandez and his company found themselves outnumbered by Chinese Communist troops on a hill near Wonton-ni, taking heavy artillery, mortar, and small arms fire. With the Americans running out of ammo, the Chinese rushed them in an effort to take the hill. Hernandez fired into them until a cartridge exploded and disabled his rifle. 

That didn't stop him from defending his fellow soldiers. Wounded, he charged at the oncoming Chinese troops with his bayonet, killing six and turning the oncoming enemy around, allowing his comrades to retake the lost ground. Hernandez passed out from his grenade, bayonet, and bullet wounds. 

For his bravery in the face of the enemy, Hernandez was awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest award for valor the United States can bestow. It was presented to him by President Harry Truman at the White House in 1952.

There are thousands of stories of American valor in the face of the enemy, each worthy of the nation's highest honor. But the thousands of Medal of Honor citations don't tell the whole story of those who received the award. 

A new initiative from the American Battlefield Trust and the Congressional Medal of Honor Society is out to change that. 

In the more than 160 years since the Medal of Honor was first created, the U.S. has awarded 3,530 Medals of Honor to deserving American troops. The Medal of Honor Valor Trail seeks to bring together hometowns, battlefields, cemeteries, museums, and any other site that connects a Medal of Honor story to a tangible place. 

Using both a physical trail across the country and a digital presence to enhance the experience, the trail aims to keep history alive and teach compelling lessons about those who received the nation's highest honor, from the Civil War to today. 

In 2019, the two organizations collaborated on the Civil War Medal of Honor database, an interactive map on the American Battlefield Trust's website that marks the location and tells the story of each of the Civil War's more than 1,500 Medal of Honor recipients. This database also included what biographical information was available about the recipient. 

While working on this project, both organizations realized the effort could go much further, connecting all 3,530 recipients from the Civil War to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and beyond. While the original Civil War database included just the battlefields and sites of the Medal of Honor action, the Valor Trail will be open to include any site that will make these stories more physically accessible to the American public.

Rodolfo Hernandez was one of eight children born to a Mexican-American farmworker in California. To join the Army at such a young age, he needed their consent, which they gave. 

After the war, Hernandez married and had three children, and worked for the Veterans Administration. As he worked to regain movement in his right arm, he also learned to write with his left hand, both handicaps the result of his Korean War wounds. He eventually met the medic who saved his life near Wonton-ni the day he fought off a Chinese charge before he died in 2013.

The Valor Trail seeks to make stories like Hernandez's more tangible by elevating these biographical places to include plaques and markers, along with digital history. Hernandez's battlefield might be on the Korean Peninsula, but 

From his childhood home to his final resting place at Sandhills State Veterans Cemetery near Fayetteville, North Carolina, any of the biographical sites from Hernandez's life are eligible to be official sites along the Valor Trail. 

"We need these places to keep reminding us of those who gave more than any of us," Hershel "Woody" Williams, the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from World War II, said in a statement. "We, as a country, can't forget. We should never forget what their sacrifices have made possible."

To learn more about the Valor Trail or nominate a Medal of Honor-connected site to include along the trail, visit the official Valor Trail website. 
 

Available for Together We Served members only! Together We Served has two hard-working Marines devoting their time and energy to help our members find long-lost friends who are not yet members of our Together We Served.

If you are looking for someone, email us at admin@togetherweserved.com with name, approximate age, where they were from, last known address, marital status, and name of spouse. We'll do our best!

When Gen. Douglas MacArthur took command of the United Nations Command in South Korea, he was already a World War II hero, Medal of Honor recipient, commander in chief of the Far East, and supreme commander of the Allied Powers. 

North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950. With his long pedigree as a leader and already based in Japan, MacArthur was the natural choice to lead the American troops in Korea. Within a year, the president of the United States relieved the General of all his commands. 

Gen. MacArthur was confident that the Korean War would be a short one. Even after the South Korean capital of Seoul fell to the communists three days after the invasion, he assured President Harry S. Truman that the war could be won. 

Even before the president named him the overall commander in Korea, MacArthur was ahead of the situation. He sent ammunition and supplies to Pusan on the southern tip of the Korean peninsula to help ensure the allied forces could make a stand there. MacArthur had already authorized the U.S. to use Naval and Air Forces on North Korean troops by the time Truman approved it. 

The General's most audacious move was a landing at Inchon, behind the North Korean advance. In the minds of the other Generals of his time, Inchon wasn't just a bad landing area; it was the worst that could be chosen. High tides and higher seawalls meant a hazardous landing for American forces, who would be at risk until they could establish a beachhead. 

Even though many doubted the possible success of the Inchon Landing on Sept. 15, 1950, it was a spectacular success. As allied forces fought for their lives at the Pusan Perimeter, the U.S. X Corps of the Army's 7th Infantry Division and the 1st Marine Division found Inchon undefended.

Within two days, the Marines had broken through and captured Kimpo Airfield, the Army had landed and blocked a communist counterattack, and the battle to retake Seoul had begun. Back in the south, South Korean and U.S. Army forces broke out of the Pusan Perimeter and sent the North Koreans into a full retreat. 

MacArthur had broken the back of the communist invasion, and his stock had never been higher. With the North Korean People's Army back across the 38th parallel, the president and the General were soon at odds over how to proceed: end the war with a ceasefire or advance into the north and topple the communist regime?

In a meeting on Wake Island in October 1950, where President Truman presented Gen. MacArthur with his fifth Distinguished Service Medal, the president asked about the likelihood of Chinese or Soviet intervention in the war. MacArthur knew the Chinese had hundreds of thousands of troops across its border with North Korea and stated his belief that a Chinese intervention was unlikely, and if it happened, the UN forces would "slaughter" them before they reached Seoul.

But by the time Truman met with MacArthur, Chinese troops had already crossed the Yalu River, which separated China and North Korea. 

When MacArthur returned to the war, he ordered a full invasion of North Korea. UN forces advanced rapidly toward the Yalu River. Pyongyang fell on Oct. 20, 1950. Five days later, the UN force encountered the Chinese for the first time at the Battle of Onjong. The Chinese intervention had begun, the Republic of Korea II Corps was completely destroyed, and now the UN forces were being pushed south.

As the war raged on across the Korean peninsula, a public battle was being fought between Gen. MacArthur and the president of the United States. As 1950 turned into 1951, MacArthur told reporters that political constraints were hampering his ability to conduct the war. In response, the Truman White House ordered that all press statements would have to be cleared with the administration before being made public. 

That didn't stop MacArthur, who continued to make public complaints. On the battlefield, however, the UN had pushed back the full extent of the Chinese intervention. On March 14, 1951, the UN captured Seoul for the fourth and final time, pushing the communists back across the original border. 

MacArthur, believing China's military power was actually much weaker than it was, believed that expanding the war into mainland China would cause a total collapse of the government in Beijing. In a communique to Lt. Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, he advocated that expansion, which included bombing China and landing Nationalist Chinese forces from Formosa (now known as Taiwan) onto the mainland. 

Truman, along with many in his administration, believed that the Soviet Union would intervene for China in the case of a larger war. Although the General submitted a plan for the use of nuclear weapons against China, he had not yet requested their use. Atomic bombs were a critical component of his plan to defeat communist China, a plan that was explained in an interview published after MacArthur's death.

The General also believed nuclear weapons should be used at the field commander's discretion, not the president's. The Truman administration did not want to use nuclear weapons and did not have faith that MacArthur could win a prolonged, expanded war in Asia without them. Instead, Truman wanted a negotiated truce and an orderly withdrawal from the conflict. 

On April 5, 1951, MacArthur gave the greenlight to Ridgway to launch Operation Rugged, an invasion of North Korea 20 miles across the 38th parallel, securing Seoul's water supply and a further advance, all without consulting Washington. It was the last straw for Truman. 

After conferring with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Truman relieved MacArthur of his command because the General was "unable to give his wholehearted support to the policies of the United States Government and of the United Nations in matters pertaining to his official duties." Truman named Ridgway as MacArthur's replacement.

MacArthur returned to the United States to a hero's welcome and a ticker-tape parade. He addressed a joint session of Congress to deliver his now-famous "Old Soldiers Never Die" speech. 

Truman was widely panned for his decision, which was incredibly unpopular among the American public. Some legislators even called for Truman to face impeachment charges, but closed-door Senate hearings confirmed that Truman was acting within his authority to fire MacArthur, even if the decision was unpopular. 

While MacArthur's dismissal reinforced the concept of civilian control of the military, it would have doomed Truman's chances in the 1952 presidential election. He decided not to run for another term, clearing the way for another former General, Dwight D. Eisenhower, to take office and end the war in a negotiated truce. 
 

If ya gotta toot your own horn, you'd better hire a new bugler."

Words of advice from a wise friend. Granted, he offered them in the context of vanity, and in the interests of full disclosure, pride could have been a motivator the day I decided to buy a bugle. But in my defense, I decided to buy one after Frank Wainwright's funeral.

I knew Frank probably better than the next of kin who reluctantly sat in the front of the church, first pew. In case you're wondering, I use the word reluctantly on purpose. In his last years, Frank was a cantankerous old man, intolerably grumpy. Part of the problem was, I suspect, just his nature; part of it, though, was attributable to the shrapnel buried in his legs since June 7, 1944, when his landing craft was turned to metal shards and wooden splinters a few yards from Utah Beach, Normandy, France.

Yes, Frank was a veteran. And thanks to Congress, he was entitled to a free flag presented by a member of his military service and the sounding of Taps at his funeral. Therein lies the problem.

Have you tried to hire a bugler lately? 

New or used, they're a vanishing breed. Congress must have recognized that shortage because it generously modified the law to authorize recorded versions of a bugle as a suitable substitute.

So, Frank's service closed with a very dignified folding of the American Flag preceded by an undignified, electronic bugle rendition of something that sounded like Taps. Crotchety or not, the old man deserved better.

Unfortunately, Taps-by-boombox has all but taken the place of the lone soldier and his bugle at military funerals. 

A shame, actually, because it's an amazing work, Taps. At just 24 notes, it will tug at your heartstrings, even if you have no personal ties to the martial sound or special bond with those who do. It's the sweetest of all calls and, after 30 years, the single-most powerful trigger that, with just a few notes, can take me back to a time when duty, honor, and country were my stock in trade. 

More important, it's a tradition all men and women who've worn the uniform have had in common since the Civil War. It's a promise to each that when the shadows of their lives lengthen and the veteran's work is done, their last rites will include the sounding of Taps.

With the noble goal of banishing the dreaded boombox from the military funeral, I bought a bugle. It came complete with the standard warning that Taps would be the hardest 24 notes I would ever sound. Nevertheless, I began practicing in earnest; my first brassy squeaks and squawks were born in the basement with only the family dog present. And she was so deaf she couldn't have passed muster in Helen Keller's remedial canine school for the hard-of-hearing. Only after I reached an inconsistently recognizable presentation did I venture outdoors to practice.

Then, for months, I traveled the backcountry roads and highways of the Pacific Northwest in search of places where the bugle could tell its story. The concert halls were small municipal cemeteries and overgrown, abandoned graveyards. Dressed in my jeans, I'd march through forgotten churchyards and burial grounds, collecting cockleburs on my socks. 

Sometimes when the path was clear of rattlesnakes and red ant hills, the concerts went well. Other times not so much, like the first time the snow was ankle-deep, or when the sun chapped my lips, or a bee crawled up my pant leg. Sometimes I just had a bad day. 

Over the months, though, the sounding improved. It would never be good enough for the audience that never complains. But then, they wouldn't. Every one of them would have known the sequence of the sound and cadence. Every one of them would have known it came from my heart.

I gradually transitioned from the solitude of the solitary bugler in a hidden cemetery to rendering the honors for veterans at their last roll call. The National Guard's Regional Honor Guard unofficially adopted me as their bugler, and with their encouragement, I even put the uniform back on. Overcoming my reluctance to dressing the part was a small price to pay to show the families of the fallen that our country still cares enough to recognize the traditions they held dear.

I still have a hard time passing a country cemetery when I see one on a day trip or vacation. And I still get a bit misty-eyed when I put the bugle to my lips, and each note finds its proper place. But when that happens, my heart is more at peace than at any time since the last time I wore the uniform and listened to Taps echoing across a military installation more than 30 years ago.

Today, when I hear that soulful sound, I'm reminded that the servicemen and women for whom it cries were real once-I might even argue they still are. And I met those whose stories are contained in these pages, courtesy of an old bugle call.
 

Most veterans and veteran families are familiar with "Taps,” the bugle call sound at the graveside services of veterans and service members during their funerals. The name most likely comes from the call to extinguish camp lights during the Civil War, which was sounded by three long taps on a snare drum.

The short tune itself has evolved a lot since the days of the Civil War. It was first used at a military funeral service in 1862. The slow, mournful sound was deemed appropriate for the setting, and sounding "Taps” at funerals caught on quickly. By 1891, it was a part of every military funeral. 

Author Robin Lee Turner first began bugling with Honor Guard teams from VFW posts, Marine Corps League Detachments, and American Legion Posts. He was so impressed with the dedication to duty he saw in those honor guards that he decided to write a book. On Veterans Day 2021, he dedicated that book, "Sounding Taps: A Duty of Remembrance,” to the men and women who serve on those details. 

Turner is an Army veteran who served for ten years but found he missed the camaraderie of military service. A few decades later, he picked up his bugle and volunteered with Bugles Across America, a nonprofit organization that provides buglers to sound "Taps” at military funerals free of charge. 

Unlike so many veteran funerals, where the sound of "Taps” will come from a speaker in the horn of a bugle, Robin Lee Turner will arrive in his crisp dress uniform, clean white gloves, and shining bugle to perform a real rendition of the call. He’s provided this last service to the fallen hundreds of times. 

Along the way, he began to collect the stories of those fallen whose stories might otherwise go untold. These are not the men and women whose stories will appear in history books alongside the names of great generals and epic battles, but they are the stories of the fallen, our fallen, who should not be forgotten.

It’s clear that "Sounding Taps” is not just a collection of those stories. It’s a labor of love by the author. It’s a book that might be perfectly suited to crack open every Memorial Day, to think of someone who gave their all in service to their country – a small way to remember and say thank you. 

"Sounding Taps: A Duty of Remembrance” can be purchased on the author’s website and on Amazon. The book cost $15 for the Kindle edition, $35 for hardcover, and $28 for paperback. 

While the price might seem steep, every dollar spent on the book will be donated to Bugles Across America to help make volunteer buglers available to Honor Guards to sound Taps live, at no cost, to families of the fallen, to the government, or to Honor Guards.
 

If you wish to make a post to our new Bulletin Board - People Sought, Assistance Needed, Jobs Available in Your Company, Reunions Pending, Items for Sale or Wanted, Services Available or Wanted, Product or Service Recommendations, Discounts for Vets, Announcements, Death Notices - email it to us at admin@togetherweserved.com.

Service Reflections Video of the Month

#TributetoaVeteran - Col James Pittman, U.S. Army 1968-2005

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If you would like some cards, email us your name and address to admin@togetherweserved.com, and we will get them in the mail to you. 

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VA and Other News

Texas Guard's guidance deterring soldiers from saving drowning migrants draws scrutiny.
By James Barragán, The Texas Tribune, and Davis Winkie

The recent death of a National Guard soldier who drowned trying to save migrants in the Rio Grande has led to increased scrutiny of the Texas Military Department's policy discouraging service members assigned to Operation Lone Star, Gov. Greg Abbott's border mission, from engaging in water rescues.

Hours after, The Texas Tribune and Military Times reported that troops along the river - including Spc. Bishop Evans, who died last month trying to rescue a migrant - lacked flotation devices and rescue training, the agency's leader Maj. Gen. Thomas M. Suelzer told lawmakers that troops are advised not to jump in the water to avoid risks.

On Monday, a Fox News reporter captured a graphic video of a migrant drowning in the river in Eagle Pass as he attempted to cross into the United States. The reporter said Mexican authorities and National Guard service members witnessed the drowning but did not jump into the water even as other migrants yelled frantically for help.

The Fox News reporter said service members told him they were ordered not to do water rescues after Evans' body was found on April 25. He died while trying to save migrants in the same stretch of river.

Critics have said that a lack of guidance and equipment to perform life-saving rescues leaves soldiers dangerously unprepared to deal with a common scenario on the border while dehumanizing the migrants attempting to cross the river.

Laura Peña, director of the Beyond Borders program at the Texas Civil Rights Project, said asking troops not to jump in the water to rescue drowning migrants "sends the message that migrants' lives are not worth saving."

"It's really very, very sad to think that the state of Texas has such little regard for people's lives who are at risk," Peña said. "They're risking everything to seek protection, safety, the American dream."

The uneven guidance comes as there have been nearly two dozen reported migrant drownings in the past month, according to The Washington Post. Despite the protocol, TMD troops have engaged in at least 15 water rescues a month since last fall, according to a source familiar with incident reporting who asked not to be identified because service members were warned by military leaders against speaking to the press.

State Rep. Ray Lopez, D-San Antonio, said asking troops not to help someone in a life-threatening situation was an unnatural request for service members who sign up to help others in need.

"You don't want to ask anybody that's a first responder to do something above and beyond what it is that you have trained them and equipped them for," said Lopez, who served 14 years in the U.S. Army Reserve. "To me, that's the fallacy; that's the problem. That's the big sin."

He added that military officials should be training and equipping the soldiers stationed near the river for water rescues.

"We haven't trained them to do what's instinctive," he said. "Shame on us for not training them to do it."

More than a year into Abbott's border mission, the Texas Military Department is now distributing a limited number of flotation devices to troops on observation points near the river. It previously had reserved water equipment for troops stationed on the water, according to sources familiar with logistics operations. Military Times and the Tribune earlier reported that logistical challenges delayed the deployment of water equipment that could have spared Evans' life.

After Evans' death, Suelzer said military officials reiterated to troops who have water equipment that they should throw flotation devices to migrants instead of getting in the water themselves. Service members are still instructed not to go in the water unless they are trained in water survival.

"That's meant to stop that from happening," Suelzer told lawmakers of TMD's instruction to deploy rescue equipment. "You throw the bag to somebody who's drowning, so you don't get in the water."

It's unclear, however, if the department will implement more training on water survival or rescues, and experts cautioned that providing troops rescue equipment without the training could lead to more fatalities.

"If you give somebody something and they think, ‘OK, this is going to be a tool that I can do this rescue with,' all that happens is we have two victims now," said Mike Turnbull, board chairperson of Rescue 3 International, a water and flood rescue training group.

The Texas Military Department did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Evans, who was promoted to sergeant posthumously, was not given a flotation device or training that could have aided a rescue, TMD said previously.

That's as 23 migrants had drowned in April in the same stretch of water Evans was patrolling, and service members had entered the water to help migrants 15 to 20 times a month since last fall, according to a source familiar with incident reporting.

By contrast, the U.S. Border Patrol equips agents with flotation devices and rescue ropes, and Turnbull said his group provides water rescue training to the agency. A week before Evans' death, Border Patrol agents from a marine unit in Eagle Pass rescued a dozen migrants who were swept off their feet by a swift current by deploying flotation devices and rescue ropes.

Jenn Budd, a former Border Patrol agent, said agents assess a situation before deciding whether to jump into the river to help a drowning migrant, but they are also provided tools and training to aid the rescue.

"When you can rescue somebody, you really feel proud," she said. "That's why people join the National Guard. That's why people join the military."

Budd said the lack of training from the Texas Military Department was negligent and compared it to sending service members into the desert without water.

"There's no excuse for the military to not have a policy," said Budd, now a Border Patrol critic. "You're putting the lives of the soldiers at risk when you don't properly train them and make them understand that this is a flowing river."

Even tools like throw ropes and rescue bags typically require a few days' training for someone to safely and effectively deploy them in a rescue situation, Turnbull said.

"You don't know what's under the water," he said. "[Are] there foot entrapments? Is there barbed wire? What is underneath there? And if you don't have the training and the right equipment, death is sure something that can happen."

Turnbull's organization recommends a three-day course that entails swimming, learning how rivers and floods work, and lessons on water dynamics, like how much water it takes to wash away a car.

"That's the thing that has been so valuable to all these folks that we've trained over the years," he said. "It's understanding something that is not familiar [for] everybody."

Budd said military leaders are also not taking into account the trauma that can develop from deciding not to jump into a river and watching a person die. That can affect the troops' morale, which has taken a hit following deplorable living and working conditions during the mission and a number of suicides tied to Operation Lone Star.

One soldier assigned to the mission told the Tribune and Military Times that two of his colleagues had witnessed a migrant drowning in February, describing the experience as "extremely emotionally distressing."

"They didn't even have time to jump in the river to save anyone," the soldier said, adding that the event inspired a now-fulfilled request to equip each observation point in the sector with emergency throw ropes that give troops more options to help.

The military department has said it has offered mental health professionals to airmen and soldiers on the mission.

Lawmakers said the newly delivered water equipment will help protect troops who want to help drowning migrants.

"You're not going to tell some young man to not go save a woman or kid drowning in the river. That's not in our DNA as soldiers," said state Rep. James White, R-Hillister, a former infantry officer in the Army. "I'm confident that as these devices are distributed, they'll come with appropriate training and protocols."

But without the right training and clear policies, rescue expert Turnbull explained, the equipment won't be enough.

"Just a few throw bags and [a few] ring buoys?" he asked. "They're setting themselves up for more heartbreak."

Fossil fuels are the Achilles' heel of warfare. Just ask Russia.
By Lt. Col. Theodore "Doc" Shanks and Alexander Gard-Murray

While the world witnesses Russia's senseless and shockingly muddled invasion of Ukraine, military logisticians around the globe are drawing a collective sigh: "See? We told you so."

Two weeks ago, the Russian bear withdrew from key objectives that Western intelligence once estimated would fall in a matter of days. How did the Russian military go from near-peer powerhouse to sideshow spectacle in so little time?

The answer is fuel. Russian planners fell victim to the classic blunder of warfare: ignoring their logistics. Their overconfidence and under-preparation for supplying it was their Achilles' heel, hobbling any hope of a swift Russian victory. Within days of their February invasion, Russian forces found themselves stranded and out of fuel (not to mention food and water). Their forces sat in massive, stagnant convoys, seemingly helpless to repel drone strikes, guerilla attacks, and crumbling morale. Starved of their fossil fuels, the Russian war machine stalled.

Military logisticians have long lamented the folly of fossil fuel dependence. When James Mattis was a major general commanding the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq, he begged Navy researchers to unleash the military "from the tether of fuel." Acquiring, transporting, and protecting tens of millions of barrels of fuel each year places tremendous strain on our military resources. From 2003 to 2007 alone, nearly 10% of America's casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan came from fuel and water resupply missions. Dr. Neta Crawford, co-director of Brown University's Costs of War Project, estimates that a quarter of the oil consumed by the U.S. military is used just to protect access to oil.

Fossil fuels aren't just a vulnerability on the battlefield; they're also a strategic straitjacket. OPEC-controlled fuel prices can turn major economies on their heads. The decisions of fossil fuel CEOs can drive massive foreign policy shifts. In 1941, Japan declared war because America threatened its fuel supply.

The U.S. and our NATO allies aren't immune from this dependence. Europe's reliance on fossil fuels means Russian oil and gas have been exempted from sanctions, leaving a gaping hole in our attempts to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin economically. The U.S. Defense Department is the largest institutional fossil fuel consumer in the world, and we estimate that up to 30% of the energy used by American installations in Europe comes from Russian sources. As the invasion of Ukraine drives up global fuel prices, American taxpayers are inadvertently lining Putin's pockets.

The world's addiction to fossil fuels and Russia's ability to profit from that addiction presents an unacceptable risk to American and global security. We have to treat our over-reliance on fossil fuels as the national security threat that it is. Independent, clean, and sustainable energy is a massive win for America's national interests that all sides - left or right - should champion.

First, we must make our bases energy independent. The DoD has already proved the value of sustainable microgrids; it's time to establish them in every base so they can operate even if civilian grids go down. Bases and non-tactical vehicles should be fully electrified so their power can come from anywhere. And every base should be able to generate its own power with clean energy. The technology is ready: The Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility can already run on batteries and solar, and Fort Hood's renewables kept the lights on during last year's Texas ice storm.

Second, we should take every opportunity to decouple operations from fossil fuels. Some of this can be achieved simply through efficiency and better planning: The Defense Innovation Unit's Jigsaw software can cut air refueling needs by 10% just by arranging flights intelligently. The Army has already set a goal of electrifying tactical vehicles by 2050. In tough areas like jet fuel, we can deploy proven alternatives like the synthetic aviation fuels already verified as "drop-in ready" by the military to bridge the gap while the DoD perfects technologies like carbon capture and transformation that literally create fuel from thin air.

Third, militaries are never fully independent of the economies that power them. True energy security requires that America and our allies decarbonize alongside the military. The DoD can help by using the power of its prodigious procurement to move manufacturers and support electrification at home and abroad.

Every day we delay, we spend more money on equipment and infrastructure that locks us into fossil fuel dependence and strategic vulnerability. How long do we wait before we unleash ourselves - and the world - from the tether of fossil fuels?

Housing company mishandled repairs and endangered military families despite millions in fines, Senate report finds
BY ROSE L. THAYER

Balfour Beatty Communities, which manages and maintains military housing on bases across the country, has mishandled maintenance requests and threatened the health and safety of families at bases in Georgia and Texas, according to a Senate report released Tuesday.

The findings of the report are similar to those of a federal criminal investigation made public in December. Balfour Beatty pleaded guilty to fraud charges that followed a Justice Department investigation, and the company paid $65 million in fines and restitution to the military.

The report, which was compiled by a subpanel of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, detailed how Balfour Beatty continues to submit family housing paperwork with inaccurate or omitted information. The paperwork is used by military officials to monitor how the company responds to maintenance requests. The report also found Balfour Beatty ignored or delayed urgent maintenance requests and failed to clean or make basic repairs to homes before leasing them to military tenants.

"These poor conditions persisted well after Richard Taylor, one of Balfour's two copresidents, publicly pledged in testimony before Congress on Dec. 5, 2019, to improve Balfour's ability to monitor repairs and responses to conditions such as mold, to prioritize the health and safety of residents, and to prepare homes for move-ins," according to the report from the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which spent eight months investigating the company's actions at Fort Gordon, Ga., and Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas.

Investigators matched internal documents with the company's maintenance management system records to pinpoint instances where the company mislabeled requests, cut corners on repairs, or simply ignored military families' calls for help.

Those actions put medically vulnerable residents and children at risk, caused damage to the personal items of military families, and subjected families to allergens, hazards, or filthy conditions, according to the report.

"These are issues that have been out there. I think we bring more specific focus to some of our findings," said a subcommittee official speaking on the condition of anonymity. "We have real evidence of what Balfour did and did not do in the time period we're looking at."

The report is titled "Mistreatment of Military Families in Privatized Housing," and it focused on issues from 2019 to the present, which is after the time that the Justice Department investigated Balfour Beatty and charged the company with fraud. In December, Balfour Beatty pleaded guilty to fraud that occurred between 2013 and 2019 at some of the 55 bases at which the company manages housing. As part of the guilty plea, the company agreed to a three-year probationary period, which increases scrutiny to comply with regulations, according to the Justice Department.

The actions uncovered by the Justice Department involved altering maintenance records to appear as though Balfour Beatty was meeting goals required for financial bonuses from the military when the company was not.

A spokesperson for Balfour Beatty said the company is disappointed that the subcommittee's report "does not accurately reflect the company's level of commitment to its military residents and their families or acknowledge the significant steps that have been taken; to address the small number of complaints that were discussed."

"While we continually seek to improve, as an operator of 43,000 residences, we will inevitably have to deal with challenges. The company remains focused on the safety, health, and wellbeing of its residents and on providing quality homes supported by prompt and effective customer service and maintenance support," the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Richard Taylor, Balfour Beatty's president of facility operations, renovation, and construction, and Paula Cook, company vice president of military community management, will testify Tuesday and answer committee questions about the findings of the investigation. The company received excerpts of the 51-page report prior to the hearing, the subcommittee official said.

Two service members, a military spouse and the co-founder of a military housing advocacy group also, will testify before the subcommittee. Army Capt. Samuel Choe, who will testify Tuesday, provided the subcommittee with medical records and photos of the skin rash that his then 8-year-old daughter developed while living in a Fort Gordon home from late 2019 to early 2021.

The girl's physician linked the rashes to mold exposure and advised the family remedy the mold in the home or move, according to the report. The Choe family moved after becoming frustrated with Balfour Beatty's lack of response, according to the report.

Congress began scrutinizing the military housing contracts, some of which span 50 years, between the service branches and private management companies following a 2018 Reuters investigation that exposed the dangerous conditions that some military families have faced in base housing, including mold growth, toxic exposure, lead-based paint and asbestos, pest and rodent infestations, and water and sewage issues. Many conditions were exacerbated by poor or slow responses to maintenance requests.

Congress has since stepped in and issued reforms, but problems have persisted. Last month, executives from several housing companies, including Balfour Beatty, faced angry lawmakers during a hearing of the House Appropriations Committee subpanel on military construction, veterans affairs, and related agencies. Some Defense Department officials also attended that hearing and said they do believe that despite the criminal fraud, it's important to keep trying to make these contracts work.

Officials with the Senate subcommittee said they agreed that breaking ties with a company such as Balfour Beatty would be extremely difficult and costly, and that was not the focus of the investigation.

"We were much more focused on what is happening to military families. Are they getting the repairs and help they need, as well as the nature of the accuracy or inaccuracy of the data," another subcommittee official said, also speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The report highlights the stories of nine military families' experiences living in Balfour Beatty homes – eight Army families at Fort Gordon, including the Choe family, and one Air Force family at Sheppard. Both bases are among the 55 bases at which Balfour Beatty manages housing for more than 150,000 residents. The company manages 1,000 homes at Fort Gordon and about 700 at Sheppard, according to the report.

The investigation included review of more than 11,000 pages of records from Balfour Beatty, additional documents from military families and former Balfour employees, and interviews with more than a dozen family members and former company employees. The subcommittee also interviewed 11 current employees, ranging from maintenance supervisors to the company's co-president, and received information from the Defense Department, the Army, and the Government Accountability Office, which has done several of its own reviews into privatized military family housing.

The investigation found "numerous examples since late 2019 of poor conditions in Balfour's military housing and disregard of safety concerns and environmental hazards that put military families at risk," according to the report. Mold was a common problem among the stories, and Balfour Beatty was seen labeling requests for mold remediation as painting, carpentry, or plumbing repairs in its computer maintenance files, according to the report.

Taylor said it's important for the company's maintenance system, known as Yardi, to be accurate because it is used by the military to provide oversight on the company, according to the report. Prospective tenants also receive information on a home's history through the system before signing a lease as part of newly laid out congressional mandates.

Other conditions found included families being moved into homes with broken floor tiles held together with clear packing tape, clogged air conditioning vents, carpets filled with pet hair, rusting pipes, and broken appliances, including a furnace leaking gas.

In one home at Fort Gordon, the family reported a leaking roof in May 2020, which went ignored for three months until the ceiling finally collapsed. Then it still took six weeks to get a response. The company blamed the delay on the coronavirus pandemic and difficulties getting contractors to complete multiple roof repairs.

Aside from families, one employee told investigators that a Fort Gordon facility manager described asbestos-related health concerns as "overblown or overstated." The manager told the employee to just "glue down" broken floor tiles instead of following government-regulated testing and remediation.

"These are the men and women serving our country, putting it all on the line to serve others and our democracy," said one subcommittee official. "It's pretty inexcusable that they face these conditions."

The report and the hearing are just the first step in a process to hold the company accountable, according to a subcommittee official.

"We're still evaluating what the next steps are after the hearing," the official said.

VA secretary says proposed $300B budget would improve, save the lives of millions of veterans.
BY SARA SAMORA

WASHINGTON – Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough told House lawmakers Thursday that agency officials are requesting the largest VA budget in history because it will improve or save the lives of millions of veterans.

"What the budget really means is health care for an estimated 9.2 million vets, disability and survivor benefits for an estimated 6 million vets and their families, and lasting resting places for an estimated 135,000 heroes and family members," McDonough said during a budget hearing of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. "What this budget really means is veterans' lives saved or improved by the work this funding makes possible."

But some House lawmakers questioned whether the $300 billion budget request for fiscal 2023, which begins Oct. 1, will provide services to all veterans.

"Our veteran population is rapidly changing," said Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., chairman of the House committee. "As a result, VA must meet the unique needs of various cohorts including women, LGBTQ+, minority, homeless, and deported veterans. So, we must ask: does this budget serve every veteran, everywhere?"

About $161 billion of the $300 billion proposal is mandatory spending, which includes entitlement programs, such as disability compensation. Mandatory spending does not go through the congressional appropriations process.

The remaining amount, $139 billion, is part of the nondefense discretionary budget, and approximately $120 billion of that amount is dedicated to veterans' medical care. The White House proposed the VA receive a 20% increase in funding for medical care in fiscal 2023.

McDonough attributed the 10.5% increase in the budget to health care inflation and increased demand for services.

The White House is requesting about 20% more for medical care, and it cited health care inflation, as well as the lasting effects of the coronavirus pandemic, as major reasons for the boost.

The VA uses modeling similar to what's used by insurance companies to estimate demands for health care. Based on the agency's projections, veterans will rely more on the VA for their medical care in 2023, said Laura Duke, the chief financial officer of the Veterans Health Administration.

McDonough also said the budget will help the VA get 38,000 homeless veterans into permanent housing by the end of 2022, deliver toxic exposure benefits, and hire workers and invest in technology to improve the speed of claims processing.

Moreover, the budget could help fund local intervention programs that can assist all veterans, but particularly women.

The VA's proposed budget includes $9.8 billion for women veterans' health care, including an estimated $767 million to support gender-specific care and $134 million for health program efforts.

"Health care to women vets will help us save lives by investing nearly a billion dollars in VA's groundbreaking research, including [coronavirus] and cancer research that will help us invest in our workforce, providing money we need to recruit and retain VA's great employees," McDonough said. "And it will help us continue to save veterans from [coronavirus], which is still very much a threat for vets across the country."

The VA has more than 623,000 veteran patients diagnosed with the coronavirus. Of those diagnosed, an estimated 4% to 7% have developed some form of long-term coronavirus symptoms, which can last months.

"VA began to focus on both clinical care and research soon after long [coronavirus] emerged on the scene," said Steven Lieberman, acting deputy undersecretary for health, said at a VA news conference on Monday. "Most recently, an enterprise long [coronavirus] integrated project team has been established and is charged with organizing, supporting, and reporting the progress of development and diffusion of long [coronavirus] clinical guidance and access to care, support, and services for all veterans."

The VA also announced Monday that it created a fast-track to disability compensation for veterans who developed one of nine rare respiratory cancers because of their exposure to toxic burn pits during overseas deployments. The cancers were added to the department's presumptive list, which lowers the amount of evidence veterans must provide to receive VA benefits.

But Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., said during the House hearing that he was alarmed at how little the proposed budget reflects the VA's and committee's work together to address toxic exposures.

"VA's budget materials say the impact is $1.3 billion this year and $5.6 billion next year," he said. "But the requested increase is much larger than that. More importantly, the American Rescue Plan was supposed to pay for those increases. It just doesn't add up."

The American Rescue Plan is a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that included $17 billion for the VA.

The money included for the VA in the American Rescue Plan was earmarked for veterans' health care, staffing, suicide prevention, women's health, telehealth, homelessness, state-run veterans' homes, and improvements to medical facilities. McDonough told Congress last year that the funding was needed because of an increase in demand for health care after veterans deferred appointments during the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier this month, House lawmakers debated a White House proposal to separate funding for veterans' medical care from the rest of the federal budget - an action that would treat it the same as defense spending and could allow it to grow beyond current limits.

Discretionary spending, which is subject to the congressional appropriations process, is divided into two categories: defense and nondefense. Congress provided about $1.5 trillion in discretionary spending for fiscal 2022, with roughly $782 billion toward defense and about $730 billion going to other areas of the government. Of the $730 billion in nondefense spending, about $117 billion went to the VA.

To address the growing costs of medical care, the White House suggested VA health care be given its own stream of funding, sending a message that veterans' medical care should be treated with the same significance as national defense.

Bost said he's concerned about the Biden administration's proposal to make the VA's medical care its own budget category. He said it could make the agency's spending preprogrammed and stifle accountability and improvements.

"Our job in Congress, and especially on the VA committee, is to make sure that VA has what it needs to serve veterans well," Bost said in a prepared statement after the hearing. "Our job is also to make sure that the taxpayer dollars that VA is given are used to improve veterans' lives, not just to grow a bureaucracy that keeps veterans frustrated. It's not at all clear to me that the massive funding increases that VA is requesting will do that."

Suicide Prevention
For those that serve or who have served, crises can be heightened by their experiences during military service. If you're a veteran or service member and in crisis, these resources can help.

How To Take Care Of Yourself
Crisis feels different for everybody and can arise from a wide range of situations before, during, or after military service.

Ask for help. Don't be afraid to let your friends know what you need when they ask; they want to help. You can also reach out to confidential 24/7 services like the Veterans Crisis Line.
 

Find a support group. Talk to other veterans who have gone through the same kind of trauma that you have. You can access groups through your local VA hospital. Alternatively, you can ask about groups through a local VFW or American Legion.

Veterans who are experiencing or are at risk of experiencing homelessness can access confidential services via chat or phone.
 

Make a safety plan. Have a step-by-step plan ready for if/when you feel depressed, suicidal, or in crisis, so you can start at step one and continue through the steps until you feel safe.
 

How To Help
Ask and listen. Be an active part of your loved ones' support systems and check in with them often. If they show any warning signs for suicide, be direct. Tell them it's OK to talk about suicidal feelings. Practice active listening techniques and let them talk without judgment.
 

Get them help and take care of yourself. Don't be afraid to get your loved one the help they might need. The Lifeline and Veterans Crisis Line are always here to talk or chat, both for crisis intervention and to support friends and loved ones. For additional support, look into https://www.caregiver.va.gov/.

Be there. Everyone deals with pain differently. A simple act of kindness to the veteran or service member in your life can help that person feel less alone.
 

Veteran Service Officers
Veteran Service Officers will help you write and submit your benefits claims to the VA. Their services are free. They will help you gather the information that supports your claim. Once the claim is filed, they will help you track the claim through the system. They can also help you file appeals for denied claims.

It is important that you use a Veteran Service Officer. They will help you avoid the delays that missing paperwork or improperly filled out claims can cause.

We have provided direct links to the major national Veteran Service Organizations and to state and county Veteran Service Officers. You can use those links to find Veteran Service Officers near you.

The Following Organizations have Veteran Service Officers Nationwide.
You do not have to be a member of these organizations to use their services.

Veterans of  Foreign Wars
Amvets
Vietnam Veterans of America
Disabled American Veterans
Paralyzed Veterans of America
American Legion

Click here for a list of VSOs in your state.
https://nvf.org/veteran-service-officers/

Starting a Small Business?

My name is Sandra Jacobs, and I manage the Small Business Entrepreneurship Outreach Program here at Digital.com. I wanted to connect with you and let you know about our recently published guide specifically for US Veterans who are in the process of starting or currently own a small business.

Recent data points to 1 out of 20 business owners being veterans, which speaks to the fact that their unique experience and perspective gives them the ideal skill set needed to successfully take on the challenges of entrepreneurship. Veterans are often able to demonstrate an inspiring style of leadership that is characterized by selflessness, balanced with the discipline to strive for continued growth and progress, and perfectly equipped to remain effective when facing the greatest of setbacks. Most of all, though every entrepreneur will have a different journey, sacrifice will undoubtedly be a part of the success story.

We want to come alongside and help veterans turn their business aspirations into successful endeavors by making sure they are aware of the unique competitive advantages available to them, such as exclusive grants, training resources, and mentoring.

You can learn more about it here: https://digital.com/veterans-business/

Please let me know if you’d be interested or if I can answer any questions for you.

Best regards,

Sandra Jacobs
Small Business Entrepreneurship
sandra@digital.com

Captain Pat McNulty
My father was a veteran of the Vietnam War. His name is Lieutenant/ Captain Pat McNulty, Forward Observer and Ranger. I wrote a book about my father's time in Vietnam to be a legacy book for the family. In putting this book together. I realized he saved 68 people's lives on Jan 19th, 1968. On that day, my father brought in artillery from 4 artillery units. My father had 75 men, up against approximately 2500 North Vietnamese soldiers. The battle lasted 4 hours, and my father estimates he fired at least a million dollars worth of artillery that day. No one from Bravo company would have made it back to base that day if it was not for my father's actions.  

I have most of the records from the national archives and about 12 people who were alive that day who might be able to help with sworn statements from that day.  

I need someone who can write a report to submit to be evaluated for a medal.

 
My father is a humble man and would say he was just doing his job. Unfortunately, his unit was too busy fighting the war which worried about awarding medals. Then on the night of Jan 19th, 1968, my father was hit by a mortar and lost an eye and had part of his arm blown away. I am hoping to have my father recognized for his actions that day. He currently has four purple hearts and a Silver Star.  I want to have him recognized before he passes away.

Thank you for your help,

Pat McNulty
484-707-3686
Pat_mcnulty@msn.com
Learn more about Capt McNulty here https://www.theintell.com/story/news/2017/11/05/vietnam-vet-receives-silver-star/17290414007/

SSgt George Stanley Nedza 

My father was a war baby, and we have done a DNA search to try and find our grandfather.

We had a photo but no surname, just the first name George.  On the DNA search, this soldier came up.  

We found a Burial Request for a George Stanley Nedza, who was born in DuBois, PA, on Nov 17, 1919. He died in DuBois on Dec 15, 1985.

He served in WWII with A Battery, 200th Field Artillery BN as a Staff Sgt.

His wife is listed as Catherine Nedza. Address of RD #3, Box 151 DuBois, PA

I’m trying to match the photo to the name.  

Thank You!
Jon Crocker (British Army)
jonandjo1@googlemail.com

NCOA Conference

The Non Commissioned Officers Association of the United States of America (NCOA) is a federally-chartered non-profit 501(c)(19) veterans organization established in 1960 in San Antonio, Texas. NCOA will host its Annual Conference and Vanguard Awards Dinner on July 19-22, 2022, at the Hilton San Antonio Airport in San Antonio, Texas.

On Tuesday, July 19, NCOA formally kicks off the event with a special Opening Reception for delegates, guests, and sponsors. The Reception will begin at 7:00 p.m.

On Wednesday, July 20, there will be a special Senior Enlisted Panel as senior leaders from each branch of the Armed Forces give the state of their individual service and answer questions. On Weds afternoon, America's Resilience Speaker, Trainer, and Coach,   Mrs. Kristen Christy, will be speaking. www.bit.ly/KristenChristyPSA1   Sponsors will be manning their exhibit tables during the sessions.

Thursday evening, July 21, is the highlight of the 4-day NCOA event as the Association honors our NCOA Military Vanguard Award Recipients. Each Vanguard is selected by their branch of the Armed Forces, with NCOA providing a basic criteria statement. The NCOA Vanguard has put his or her life in jeopardy to save another. NCOA is proud to honor these true American Heroes. We need your support to continue to make this the tribute that each of them deserves.

The conference will wrap up on Friday, July 22, with Breakfast with the NCOA President and Board of Directors.

Come join us here: https://www.ncoausa.org/ncoa-2022-conference.html