Check Your American Flag
With Spring officially here, now is the time to see how your American Flag has weathered a long and very windy winter. If it is torn or weathered, now is the time to take it down and put a new flag up.
Congress Passed Legislation Honoring Vietnam War Veterans
The House of Representatives passed a bill which would amend the flag code to include National Vietnam War Veterans Day on the list of days that Americans should fly the U.S. flag. March 29 of each year is the designated day. The bill, which cleared the Senate in February, now goes to the President’s desk for signature.
Southeast Asia Fact-Finding Trip
VFW Senior Vice Commander-in-Chief Keith Harman returned from a two-week POW/MIA fact-finding trip to Southeast Asia late last week in which he was able to meet with U.S. military and diplomats assigned to U.S. Embassies in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and the People’s Republic of China, as well as host-country officials. He also visited an MIA recovery site west of Da Nang, Vietnam, to personally thank the 17 U.S. military and DOD civilians working hard on a 45-degree sloop and in 90-degree temperatures to recover and return a missing American soldier home to his family. It was the senior vice commander’ first trip back to Vietnam since he departed it in 1969.
Hearing on VA Recruitment and Retention Authorities
On Wednesday, the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health held a hearing to discuss ways to improve VA’s ability to recruit and retain high-quality health care professionals. The members of the subcommittee explored ways to expedite the hiring process to ensure candidates aren’t required to wait months to be hired by VA. VFW National Legislative Service Director Carlos Fuentes submitted testimony urging Congress to give VA direct hiring authority for front-line staff, who currently wait up to six months for an entry-level job. VA testified on its challenges with human resources staff and agreed that having more direct hiring authority for health care staff would improve its ability to deliver timely and high-quality care to veterans.
Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services
On Wednesday and Thursday, the VFW attended the quarterly meeting of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS). Created in 1951 by then Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall, DACOWITS provides advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Defense on matters and policies relating to the recruitment, retention, treatment, employment, integration and well-being of women in the Armed Forces. This meeting’s topics included retention, propensity to service, physiological gender differences and boxing programs at the Military Service Academies.
POW/MIA Up Date
* Marine Pvt. Harry K. Tye, 21, of Orinoco, Kentucky, will be buried March 28 in Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C. Tye was assigned to Company E, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, 2nd Marine Division. On Nov. 20, 1943, Tye’s unit landed on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll against fierce Japanese resistance. Tye was killed on Nov. 20, 1943. * Army Air Forces Capt. Albert L. Schlegel, 25, of Cleveland, Ohio, will be buried March 30 in Beaufort, South Carolina. Schlegel disappeared Aug. 28, 1944, while piloting his P-51D Mustang on a ground strafing mission near Strasbourg, France. In his final communication, the fighter “ace” radioed he’d been hit by heavy anti-aircraft fire and would need to bail out. * Army Cpl. Jules Hauterman Jr., 19, of Hampden, Massachusetts, will be buried March 31 in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Hauterman was a medic with the Medical Platoon, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, attached to the 31st Regimental Combat Team deployed east of the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. He was reported missing as of Dec. 2, 1950. * Army Cpl. Joseph N. Pelletier, 20, of Berlin, New Hampshire, will be buried March 28 in Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C. Pelletier was assigned to Headquarters Battery, 15th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, near the Central Corridor in North Korea. Pelletier was declared missing on Feb. 13, 1951. * Marine Corps Reserve Pvt. Donald S. Spayd was assigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, 2nd Marine Division. On Nov. 20, 1943, Spayd’s unit landed on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll against fierce Japanese resistance. Spayd was killed on Nov. 20, 1943. Interment services are pending.
Till next week, praying for all service members.
– Charles Castelluccio
