67th Annual Mayor’s Memorial Day Ceremony
– When: Monday, May 25, 1015 – Time: 0830 – Where: National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl)
Governor’s Memorial Day Ceremony
– When: Monday, May 25, 1015 – Time: 1300, with the prelude starting at 1245 – Where: Hawaii State Veterans CemeteryNational Military Appreciation Month started as a simple idea; to gather America around its military family to honor, remember, recognize and appreciate those who have served and those now serving and to know the history behind it all. Subsequent formal legislation informs our servicemembers that their country has set aside an entire month to honor, remember and appreciate them.
In 1999, legislation passed in the U.S. Senate designating May as National Military Appreciation Month, with the support and sponsorship of Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA) of San Diego and over 50 veteran service organizations.
In April 2004 more comprehensive legislation was passed by unanimous consent of both Houses of Congress, H. Con. Res. 328, that May is National Military Appreciation Month and urges the President to issue an annual proclamation calling on the American people to recognize this special month of May through appropriate ceremonies and events.
In May, the United States recognizes National Military Appreciation Month designated to recognize and appreciate past and present members of the United Stated armed services. Memorial Day is also celebrated in May, as a day of tribute for the men and women who died while in military service. Benefits.gov would like to thank members in uniform who will be serving, who have served, and who are currently serving around the world.
If you are a Veteran or a survivor, dependent, or widow(er) of a Veteran, Benefits.gov has information on a variety of benefits and programs that may be right for you. We encourage you to view the programs listed below:
The Education – Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance Program (DEA) provides education and training opportunities to eligible dependents and survivors.
The Gratuitous Service-Disabled Veterans Insurance (ARH) provides posthumous life insurance coverage for certain Veterans.
The Health Insurance for Dependents (CHAMPVA) is a comprehensive health care program in which the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) shares the cost of covered health care services with eligible beneficiaries.
The programs listed are only a few of the benefits housed on Benefits.gov. You can also view additional programs available to Veterans and family members by visiting the Browse by Category page and selecting “Military: Active Duty and Veterans.”
You can also click “Start Benefit Finder” on the Benefits.gov homepage and use our confidential Benefit Finder to find out which programs you may be eligible to receive.
This article is from Benefits.gov Compass, a quarterly enewsletter about the Beneftis.gov Program. This Compass publication is produced by: U.S. Department of Labor
Walt Disney World will always hold a special place in the heart of military spouse Allie. After all, it’s not every day that your future husband gets down on one knee to propose marriage during the EPCOT fireworks show.
But Allie, a former intern at Innoventions in EPCOT, also loves Disney because of how patriotic and military-friendly they are. And if you’ve ever taken advantage of the great discounts Disney offers military families, you’ll agree.
Thinking about booking a Disney vacation? Before you go, check out the following Disney discounts you can get as well as a few things to keep in mind. (The first thing to keep in mind is to have your military ID. You’ll need a valid ID to redeem all of these deals.)
If you’ve ever shopped for a financial advisor, you’ve probably seen a confounding list of acronyms, also known as designations, following the candidates’ names. The initials often look similar and don’t give you a hint about their significance.
Gary Kwook Quon Yuen, 66, of Honolulu, a retired Honolulu Police Department officer and an Air National Guard veteran, passed away on April 8, 2015. He was born in Honolulu.
He is survived by son Garrison, companion Deanna Shimizu, brother Gordon and sister Barbara Lei.
Visitation: 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at Hawaiian Memorial Park Mortuary. Services: 10:30 a.m. Burial: 1 p.m. at Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery, Kaneohe. Condolences: hawaiianmemorialparkmortuary.com.
From the This Day in Aviation website
This iconic photograph was taken 29 April 1975 by Dutch photographer Hubert van Es. A Bell Model 204B helicopter operated by Air America is shown parked on the roof of the Pitman Apartments in Saigon. Although commonly described as the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy, the actual embassy was a much larger building several blocks away. This building was a residence for U.S. diplomatic personnel.
These midshipmen directed families to the back of the Subway. They lined up, in front of families, as protesters passed outside, some throwing rocks. Women and children gathered farthest from the windows, except for Grinnell, the only female midshipman there from the Naval Academy.
Vitamin D is great for your bones, but sunshine can harm your skin. How do you solve this vitamin D dilemma?
Robert W. Franco, 72, of Wahiawa, a retiree from the automotive industry and a National Guard veteran, passed away on April 22, 2015 in Wahiawa. He was born in Soledad, California
He is survived by wife Barbara T.; daughter Bobbi R. Bueno; stepsons Bryan Courtney and Jon Christie; stepdaughters Christine Caringer, Connie Chastain, Cheryl Fortes and Dina Ray; brother Raymond Vasquez; 21 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
Private services.
Lawmakers are once trying to broaden the federal definition of who is a veteran. Sen. John Boozman, R-Arkansas, and Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Indiana, along with Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minnesota, have introduced legislation in both chambers that would allow National Guard and Reserve retirees to legally refer to themselves as veterans.
“These folks took an oath, and that oath was to defend our nation at any cost, to stand ready for decades, at a moment’s notice, to deploy anywhere in the world in defense of our great nation,” said Walz, a retired command sergeant major in the Army Guard.
NGAUS has long supported this effort. The association believes the current law that requires a certain amount of time on active duty to be a veteran is misguided and leaves out the thousands of men and women who served honorably but were never called to active duty
“The current law punishes these people for something that was outside their control,” said retired Colonel Pete Duffy, the NGAUS legislative director. “It’s time they were given this honor by the country they served.”
Efforts to do this have failed in the past because some lawmakers feared it would also widen the eligible population for benefits despite the promise of bill sponsors that it would not. The sponsors of the current Honor America’s Guard-Reserve Act of 2015 say the same thing.
“National Guard and Reserve members who selflessly serve in defense of our country should be honored for their sacrifice,” says Boozman, a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
Along with NGAUS, the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States supports the legislation.
Tossing things prematurely happens more often than you might think (the USDA says almost a pound of food is wasted per person per day). Are you jumping the gun?’
Retiree News received this letter from the 1968 Call-Up Reunion Committee
TO: the Members of the Hawaii Army National Guard First Battalion, 299th Infantry, 29th Infantry Brigade Maui units: Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Wailuku and Company “C”, Kahului
FROM: The 47th Anniversary Call-Up “May 13, 1968” Reunion Committee
This letter is to inform you that we will be observing our 47th Anniversary of the “May 13, 1968” Reunion on Saturday, May 16, 2015 at the Rodeo Arena, Makawao, Maui on Olinda Road. We are planning to have a catered luncheon and activity for that day.
Oh, by the way, if you and your spouse or friend has a specialty dish that you want to share with us, you are more than welcomed to bring it with you. I’m sure we will enjoy every bit of it.
Hopefully this will be more of a relaxed type of an annual gathering where we will have more time to talk story, reminisce the old days, and just have fun. This also would be a gathering where it is the only time we see some of out former National Guard buddies and friends during the whole year. This will give each of us plenty of time to talk story with our buddies since the last reunion I.
This reunion will begins at 10:00am and end at 4:00 pm. We will curtail some of the programs. We have had in the past so we can spend more time congregating, relaxing, eating and participating in whatever events the committee has planned.
The fee for this reunion will be $20.00 per person. We trust that you will mark your calander with the date of the reunion. Again, Mahalo for your past participation and support in making our Annual Call-Ul Reunion a successful one.
Harry Kahunanui and the Reunion Committee members
Contact Harry at 878-1854 or 281-7154
Consolidation of the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) and three separate military exchange services into a single Defense Retail Activity (DeRA) is gaining support among policymakers inside the Department of Defense and perhaps a key congressional subcommittee, a source reports.
The idea to merge all military stores under a single agency is a major recommendation of the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission. It sees savings to the Department of Defense of $426 million annually by fiscal 2020 and, more importantly, commissioners say the move will preserve prized shopping discounts for millions of military patrons.
