VA continues commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War

As a commemorative partner, VA joins nearly 10,000 organizations across the nation supporting the Department of Defense in this mission to honor and thank our Vietnam Veterans. The commemoration recognizes all men and women who served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces during the United States’ involvement in Vietnam—November 1, 1955 – May 7, 1975.

Veterans Legacy Program: “Remembering Port Chicago”

A. D. Hamilton, Lawrence Matthews, James Bridges, and Leroy Hughes are the names of just four of the 320 sailors that died in the Port Chicago disaster. On July 17, 1944, a massive explosion occurred at the ammunition depot of Port Chicago. It was the worst home front disaster in World War II.  Over 10,000 tons of explosives detonated, sinking two ships and killing over 300 sailors, most of whom were African-American.

VA’s new innovation podcast launches with powerful episode on suicide prevention

VA is excited to announce the inaugural episode of the VA Innovation Experience podcast! In this first episode, Andrea Ippolito, a founding member of the team that launched the highly successful VA Innovators Network, hosts a powerful episode about two of VA’s efforts to reduce and eliminate Veteran suicide – Secretary Shulkin’s top clinical priority.

 VETERAN OF THE WEEK

This week we honor Army Veteran Karen “Rif” Riffel.

Karen served with the 733rd Transportation Company and participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom. After her service, Karen co-founded the nonprofit organization Veterans of America where she works as vice president. Veterans of America aims to raise national awareness of the issue of homelessness among Veterans.