BRIEFINGS
Around the nation Native American veterans will be honored with memorial on National Mall
Jan. 14, 2018 — Finalists have presented their designs for the National Native American Veterans Memorial; a winner will be selected on July 4. The memorial is slated to open on the grounds of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington in 2020. See the final entries here: goo.gl/JcgWQ4. Inspiration for Rosie the Riveter dies at 96
Jan. 22, 2018 — Naomi Parker-Fraley, identified by a scholar as the inspiration for Rosie the Riveter, passed away at the age of 96 in Washington state. Born in Tulsa, Okla., Fraley was one of the first women to work at the Naval Station in Alameda following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Young man made it his mission to interview WWII veterans
Feb. 23, 2018 — Rishi Sharma has always been into superheroes – the real kind. That’s why, as a junior in high school, he made it his mission to meet as many World War II combat veterans as possible. Sharma has interviewed more than 210 combat vets. These interviews can be seen at www.heroesofthesecondworldwar.org. The Home Depot Foundation Commits $50 million to skilled trades training
March 8, 2018 — The Home Depot Foundation has announced a $50 million commitment to train 20,000 tradespeople over the next 10 years in order to fill the growing skilled labor gap. In 2017, The Home Depot Foundation launched a pilot trades training program for separating military members in partnership with nonprofit Home Builders Institute on Fort Stewart and Fort Bragg. The program, which has a job placement rate of more than 90 percent, will now roll out on additional bases across the United States. Veterans’ home adult day services bill signed into law
March 27, 2018 — This bill directs the federal VA to enter into an agreement or a contract with each state home to pay for adult day health care for a veteran for whom the home is not receiving VA nursing home care payments. The veteran must need such care specifically for a service-connected disability, or must have a service-connected disability rating of 70 percent or more. Shulkin dismissed as VA secretary
March 28, 2018 — On March 28, President Donald Trump dismissed David Shulkin from his position as the U.S. secretary of veterans affairs. He had served as head of the federal VA since 2015. Ronny Jackson was nominated to succeed him, pending Senate confirmation, with Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel 24
World War II veteran Curtis Tigard turned 109 on April 13. He is a lifetime resident of Tigard and the state’s oldest known living veteran.
and Readiness Robert Wilkie serving as acting director in the interim. Court ruling could extend disability benefits to thousands of injured veterans
March 8, 2018 — In a sweeping legal victory for veterans, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned a 19-year lower court precedent used in more than 11,000 VA claims denials that stated veterans had to have a clear medical diagnosis connected to their pain in order to be eligible for those disability payouts. Advocates said the ruling could be life-changing for individuals who are unable to work because of service-connected injuries but excluded from veterans assistance because of medical technicalities. 15 years later, Wounded Warrior Project still adding new members
March 8, 2018 — Fifteen years after it was founded, seven years after official U.S. combat operations ended in Iraq and three years after their end in Afghanistan, Wounded Warrior Project is still seeing a surge in new members. The charity, which celebrates its founding anniversary this month, now boasts more than 111,000 veterans and troops as program members. This fiscal year alone, the group has averaged more than 1,200 new registrations a month, even as the major troop surges in Iraq and Afghanistan slide further into the past.
Close to Home Oregon Medal of Honor Highway dedicated
Oct. 30, 2017 — U.S. 20 has been designated the Oregon Medal of Honor Highway thanks to the work of the Bend Heroes Foundation.
Running from Newport to Nyssa, it honors every Medal of Honor recipient associated with Oregon. Elks lodges donate tablets to Lebanon veterans’ home
Oct. 30, 2017 — The Salem Elks Lodge, Keizer Elks Lodge and Elks National Foundation donated 20 Android tablets to the Edward C. Allworth Veterans Home in Lebanon. The tablets will allow resident veterans to access telehealth services from the VA and communicate with relatives and friends. OCHS approves vets housing projects approved in four counties
Feb. 16, 2018 — Oregon Housing and Community Services has announced the award of $8.9 million to fund the development of 71 new affordable homes for Oregon veterans. These awards will bring housing stability to formerly homeless veterans and their families through developments planned in North Bend, Klamath Falls, Oregon City and northeast Portland. Oregon veteran turns 109
April 13, 2018 — Curtis Tigard, a lifetime Oregonian and World War II veteran, turned 109 on April 13. He is the oldest known living veteran in the state. He served in the U.S. Army for six years, including the entirety of WWII, participating in invasions in north Africa and Italy. He celebrated the occasion with friends and well-wishers during two celebrations, one at the historic John Tigard House (named for his uncle) and at Royal Villas, the Tigard retirement community he has lived in since the 1970s.
