Free Republic

He was wounded in a foxhole in the Philippines in 1944. "There were four guys in there, and two guys got killed," he told the station. "And then the other guy, he got his leg... Oh, hell. I guess he lost his leg. It was slit in four places where a grenade hit between us and I got one in my leg." Limpert said he waited until now to apply for benefits because he is down to nothing. ****** His application included plenty of documentation, including discharge papers, the names of his foxhole pals and the X-ray of his wounded...

A friend of ours in the deep southland sends us the letter that the American Legion national commander, David K. Rehbein sent to Department of Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano in response to the report that TSO wrote about yesterday which expressed an unwarranted fear of us right-wing veterans. The letter reads; Dear Secretary Napolitano, On behalf of the 2.6 million-member American Legion, I am stating my concern about your April 7 report, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence and Recruitment.” First, I want to assure you that The American Legion has long shared your concern about...

WASHINGTON -- Thieves took sensitive personal information on 26.5 million U.S. veterans, including Social Security numbers and birth dates, after a Veterans Affairs employee improperly brought the material home, the government said Monday. The information involved mainly those veterans who served and have been discharged since 1975, said VA Secretary Jim Nicholson. Data of veterans discharged before 1975 who submitted claims to the agency may have been included. Nicholson said there was no evidence the thieves had used the data for identity theft, and an investigation was continuing. "It's highly probable that they do not know what they have," he...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Personal information on 26.5 million veterans was stolen from the home of a data analyst in what appears to have been a random burglary, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said Monday. The computer records include names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth, Nicholson said. The Department of Veterans Affairs disclosed the theft Monday and said it has seen no indication that the information has been misused.

If I had the opportunity to deliver a speech conveying my profound appreciation to our American soldiers — both past and present — for all they have done, and continue doing for this wonderful country, this is what I´d say: I´m not a veteran, just a common American in possession of a deep and heartfelt admiration for the sacrifice and courage, demonstrated by you, the soldier. It is your bravery, your ability to perform your mission no matter what the obstacles, and your heroism that connects you to the pantheon of soldiers who have honorably served this country in the...

WEIMAR, Germany (AP) — U.S. veterans reunited Thursday with survivors they cared for at a Nazi concentration camp, marking the 57th anniversary of the liberation of Buchenwald on the tree-ringed hilltop where some 56,000 prisoners died during the Third Reich. When American soldiers arrived on April 11, 1945, some of them could hardly believe the prisoners they found were human beings ``because of our appearance — we were only skin and bones,'' Edward Kierski, 87, a former camp inmate from Poland, said at a ceremony honoring four members of the U.S. Third Army's 120th Evacuation Hospital, the first unit that...