Unclaimed for Years, Veterans' Remains Laid to Rest in Connecticut Cemetery: 'We Claim Them'
MIDDLETOWN — Strong breezes kept American flags waving Wednesday morning during a ceremony honoring three U.S. Army veterans from Connecticut whose remains had lingered unclaimed on funeral home shelves. At the State Veterans Cemetery, white-gloved soldiers removed the cremated remains of PFC Mario N. DeVito, Private James Dickinson and SP5(T) Richard Robert Thurston from three […]
Ex-US Army Soldier Asks for Maximum 40 Years in Prison But Gets a 14-Year Term for IS Plot
NEW YORK — A judge rejected a former U.S. Army soldier’s surprise sentencing-day request for a maximum 40-year prison term for trying to help the Islamic State group kill American troops, giving him 14 years behind bars instead. Cole Bridges, 24, of Stow, Ohio, was sentenced Friday after a nearly five-hour Manhattan federal court proceeding […]
80 Years After D-Day, the Family of a Black World War II Combat Medic Receives His Medal for Heroism
WASHINGTON — Waverly B. Woodson Jr., who was part of the only African American combat unit involved in the D-Day invasion during World War II, spent more than a day treating wounded troops under heavy German fire — all while injured himself. Decades later, and nearly 20 years after his death, his family finally received […]
Two Colombians Get 35 and 30 Years After Pleading Guilty to Plot to Murder US Soldiers
Two Colombians on Thursday were sentenced in Miami federal court to 35 and 30 years in prison for conspiring to murder U.S. soldiers in a car-bombing attack at a military base near the Colombia- Venezuela border. Three U.S. Army members were injured in the 2021 assault. Andres Fernando Medina Rodriguez, a former Colombian military officer […]
Army Extends Some Unaccompanied Tours in South Korea to 2 Years
Some “single” soldiers who ship out to South Korea will now need to spend two years on the peninsula rather than one, the Army said in a recent force-wide message. The exception to policy, aimed at seven career fields, requires “single soldiers without dependents assigned to the Republic of Korea to serve the accompanied tour […]
Tim Walz, Who Spent Decades as an Enlisted Soldier, Brings Years of Work on Vets Issues to Dem Ticket
A retired Army National Guard noncommissioned officer who was once the top Democrat on the House Veterans Affairs Committee could become the next vice president. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris announced Tuesday that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will be her running mate. That puts someone with an enlisted background on both presidential […]
Illinois Town Had an Army Reserve Center for Nearly 60 Years. Now It's Being Sold.
The federal government is giving the former U.S. Army Reserve center in Belleville to the city after nearly 60 years of military use, and the city is selling it to St. Clair County for $250,000. In the past three weeks, both the City Council and County Board have voted to enter into an intergovernmental agreement […]
An Alaska Veteran Is Finally Getting His Benefits — 78 Years After the 103-Year-Old Was Discharged
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A 103-year-old World War II veteran who’s been paying his medical bills out-of-pocket is finally getting his veterans benefits from the U.S. government after 78 years. Louis Gigliotti’s caretaker says the former U.S. Army medical technician has a card from the Veteran Administration but he never realized he could use his status […]
Former US Army Civilian Employee Sentenced to 15 Years for Stealing Nearly $109 Million
A Texas woman who was a civilian employee of the U.S. Army at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison for stealing nearly $109 million from a youth development program for children of military families. Janet Yamanaka Mello, 57, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez in […]
Remains of Jewish D-Day Soldier Lost for 80 Years in Nazi Mass Grave Will Be Buried in Normandy
The case of Army 1st Lt. Nathan B. Baskind was unique in the annals of the more than 73,000 U.S. service members still listed as missing in action from World War II, and the case had long gone cold. The case of Army 1st Lt. Nathan B. Baskind was unique in the annals of the […]