Veterans

SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was accused in a lawsuit yesterday of "shameful failures" in providing medical and mental health care to injured servicemen returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to a 73-page lawsuit, which is proposed for class-action status on behalf of hundreds of thousands of veterans, "The VA's outmoded systems for providing medical care and disability benefits [have been overwhelmed by] the huge influx of injured troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan."

NEW YORK -- Jon Soltz rapped his pen on a conference table as he ran through plans to take on politicians who back the war in Iraq. The former U.S. Army captain and Iraq war veteran was demanding television ads. "I want a hit on Fox," he barked into a speaker phone. He wanted more e-mail blasts and more donors. "Do we have a target list?" he asked of the team gathered for a Monday morning conference call. "Let's go get those dollars." There isn't much to the nerve center of his operation: three rooms on the seventh floor of a dingy Manhattan office building.

WASHINGTON -- If you click your way through cable TV land, you're bound to run across a World War II movie in which a soldier, dying for a smoke, smokes while he's dying.In such scenes, somebody nice, like William Bendix in "Wake Island," has been mauled by enemy fire and isn't going to make it. His last words to his squad are punctuated by puffs on a cigarette being held for him by a buddy.You have to wonder what President Clinton might be thinking when he watches such episodes.Can Mr. Clinton possibly see a link between smoking in wartime in years gone by and his rejuvenated war on the tobacco companies?

Elizabeth Ann Cregon, a retired registered nurse and longtime volunteer, died from complications of diabetes Aug. 17 at the home of a daughter in Timonium. She was 71.Mrs. Cregon, who retired in the 1980s, had been an emergency room nurse at University of Maryland Medical Center, Mount Wilson State Hospital and Spring Grove Hospital Center.For several years, she was administrator of Calvert County Nursing Home in Prince Frederick.She was a charter member of the John Hanson Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Frederick and, for 34 years, a member of the John Eager Howard Chapter in Baltimore.

To assist a growing population of older military veterans, the state Board of Public Works could take the first step today toward building a multimillion-dollar veterans home on the sprawling grounds of Fort Howard Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Baltimore County.A Silver Spring consulting firm has submitted a bid of $57,909 for a 90-day feasibility study to explore constructing a second facility in Maryland to treat and care for ex-military personnel in a retirement setting.If approved, the retirement home would sit on a stunning site overlooking a river and the Chesapeake Bay -- a tree-shaded tract named in honor of a dashing hero of the Revolutionary War that includes a facility nearly shuttered because of shifting medical needs.

Jerry Sowder knew it was time to buy a home.After being discharged from the Air Force, he and his family moved in with his wife's sister in Severn for two years and then moved to an apartment. But his two rambunctious young daughters were not suited for apartment living.Purchasing a home seemed a long shot, since he had various debts and expenses from attending Anne Arundel Community College. But there was a solution: Sowder was a veteran."I had always wanted a house for my family," recalled Sowder, now an Autocad technician with an architectural firm in Columbia, "so I decided it was time to take advantage of my Veterans [Affairs]

The wind-whipped rain carried Joseph Conway back in time as he stood among the crowd yesterday at Fort Howard VA Medical Center.The ex-Army paratrooper joined more than 75 veterans and federal workers in the rain to protest what most admit is a fait accompli -- the demolition of the historic hospital on the Chesapeake Bay, which would be decided on as early as next year. "They have their minds made up to tear the hospital down, but I've received good care here, and since I live in Baltimore, it's been convenient," said Conway, a hospital patient who was wounded three times while serving with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vietnam.

Cabinet-level position for veterans affairs wins final approvalThe General Assembly gave final approval yesterday to legislation that would create a state Cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs.The measure, which was proposed by Gov. Parris N. Glendening, goes to him for his signature. It would merge state programs for veterans into a single agency, a response to complaints that veterans seeking services are frequently bounced among different offices.The move would bring Maryland's practice in line with that of the federal government, which centralized its veterans programs under a Cabinet department.

Katie Daniels, 13, received a hero's medal this month for poetry.The Silver Star, the third-highest military award designated solely for heroism in combat, was a gift from a Vietnam veteran grateful for Katie's tribute to his fallen comrades.The paths of John R. Jones, a retired Marine master sergeant, and the Sykesville Middle School pupil, who wrote "The Memories of the Soldiers in the Vietnam War," crossed at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington. He was so impressed when Katie read her poem that he removed the medal from his cap and gave it to her."

AS A BABY boomer, I lived with the memories of the war years through my parents' reminiscences. I've seen documentaries, watched movies and read books about those experiences, but thanks to the sacrifices of veterans, I have been spared the ravages of war firsthand.To help commemorate Veterans Day, the John W. Brown, one of two surviving World War II Liberty ships, will re-enact a troopship homecoming tomorrow from the Dundalk Marine Terminal to Baltimore's Inner Harbor.The Brown, one of two restored Liberty ships, was constructed during the summer of 1942 at the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, just a couple of miles over the city-county line from Pasadena.

On Saturday, October 31, 2009, Mrs. Catherine I. D Visitation for family and friends will be held on Wednesday, November 4th, 20090 from 5-7:00 PM in HUBBARD FUNERAL HOME, INC., 4107 Wilkens Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland, where a Funeral Service will be held at 7:00 PM in the Funeral Home. Interment will take place in Maryland Veterans Cemetery Crownsville. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in remembrance to the American Lung Association.

Will the Orioles spend their extra cash?: The Orioles began this season with roughly $77 million owed in salary - including more than $9 million due to ex-Orioles Jay Gibbons and Ramon Hernandez. By shedding expiring contracts, the club has dropped approximately $46.6 million from the 2009 payroll. Heading into 2010, they have about $30 million tied up in six players. They'll pay incremental raises to many of their youngsters and will face arbitration hikes with several more. But the payroll will start significantly below what it was in 2009 - meaning there should be money to tap this winter.

John S. Wisniewski, a retired Veterans Administration attorney and decorated World War II Army officer, died of a stroke Sept. 22 at the Frederick Villa Nursing Home. The Catonsville resident was 93. Born in Baltimore and raised in Canton, he attended St. Casimir's Parochial School and was a 1933 Calvert Hall College High School graduate. After completing two years at Loyola College, he earned a law degree from the University of Baltimore. He was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 1938. During World War II he served in the Army and was stationed in the Philippines and saw combat action at Panay Island.

Walter Pasciak, 84, was so eager to move to a proposed $180 million waterfront retirement community for veterans in eastern Baltimore County that he paid $5,000 to be given "priority consideration" on the waiting list. "The location is great, and all the facilities would have been there," said Pasciak, a World War II veteran. Now he doesn't know whether he'll see the money again. On Thursday, the Department of Veterans Affairs terminated its contract with Federal Development LLC, a Washington-based company that had been selected to redevelop Fort Howard Hospital and other buildings at the one-time Army base on the North Point peninsula.

After years of delays in getting Fort Howard redeveloped as a retirement community for veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs on Wednesday scrapped those plans and said it will seek a new partner for the project. Fort Howard Senior Housing Association had signed a 75-year lease with the VA in 2004 to build what would have been the nation's largest continuing-care community for veterans. But the project, Bayside at Fort Howard, had become enmeshed in disputes over building permits, zoning regulations and taxes.

WASHINGTON -It was a diverse group of veterans that showed up last Monday morning at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Two retired generals, a blind man, three men with prosthetic legs and one in a wheelchair. They gathered in the historic Roosevelt Room, where Teddy Roosevelt's Medal of Honor is displayed in a corner. For some, it was their first visit to the West Wing. When President Barack Obama came into the room, he shook their hands, thanked them for their service and asked each for his opinion.

Al Hernandez screens phone calls to his Ellicott City home these days because cancer surgery nearly destroyed a muscle in his right thigh two years ago and he tires of rushing, cane in hand, to grab the handset. Callers hear the Vietnam veteran's taped instructions about leaving a message, followed by a cheery "Semper Fi!" and a rousing recording of a few bars of the Marine Corps hymn. While his sign-off is the abbreviated form of semper fidelis, which is Latin for "always faithful," it would have been easy for the 58-year-old Marine to lose faith after a series of health setbacks left him unable to work and in considerable pain, he said.

At his final bill signing ceremony, Gov. Martin O'Malley signed legislation yesterday to provide prescription-drug subsidies for seniors, give workers more flexibility with sick leave, and bring transparency to what is expected to be a well-funded fight over November's slot-machine referendum. The governor also signed several bills aimed at benefiting veterans, including a measure intended to help veterans obtain mental health services. Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, an Army Reserve officer who did a tour in Iraq, took the lead on veterans-related bills and said yesterday that the new laws "provide a seamless transition for veterans from combat back into the community."

Soldiers' stories tell a brutal tale Thanks for publishing the column "Winter soldiers" by Madeleine Mysko (Opinion Commentary, March 19). As we enter the sixth year of the war in Iraq, it is important that newspapers such as The Sun let the public hear the horrifying words of those who have returned from the front lines, the winter soldiers. I appreciated how Ms. Mysko, a former second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, wove her story from the Vietnam era with the testimony of a veteran of the Iraq war, Jason Hurd of the U.S. Army, who spoke along with other veterans, their parents and friends last weekend in Silver Spring.

A proposal by the O'Malley administration to help returning war veterans deal with emotional and psychological problems triggered by their service got a sympathetic hearing yesterday, but key legislators warned that the state might lack the money to meet what all agreed is a critical need. Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, an Army Reserve officer who did a tour in Iraq in 2005, told members of the Senate Finance Committee that the state needs to help veterans suffering from brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, which are contributing to high rates of suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, joblessness, homelessness and family breakups.