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Chapter and Local
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Chapter 120 Election Results
Chapter elections were held on April 1, 2010 during the
Chapter membership meeting. Results of the election are:
Officers
President – Paul Barry Jr.
Vice President –Joe Hachey
Treasurer – Glenn Beaulieu
Secretary – Roger Anderson
Board of Directors
Bob Burgess
Bill Chiodo
Mike Daugherty |
Pattie Dumin
Pete Lund
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State Council Delegates
Paul Barry Jr.
Pattie Dumin
Pete Lund |
John Siemer
Frank Zizzamia
Glenn Beaulieu (Alternate) |
Nominating Committee
Pete Lund
Bill Chiodo |
John Cutler |
Congratulations to All!
AVVA Elections
Associates of VVA (AVVA) elections for the Connecticut Representative will be
held on May 16, 2010 at the State Council office, 196 West
Street, Rocky Hill CT. Ballots will be mailed to all AVVA
members, in the event that you cannot make the meeting.
Chapter 120 presents calendars to Manchester officials
Manchester’s Vietnam Memorial Park Garden is featured in the
National 2010 Calendar of Vietnam Veterans of America.
Connecticut Chapter 120 members led by chapter President
Paul Barry will present Calendars to Manchester’s Board of
Directors on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at 7:00 P.M.
Dena Matthews, of Wesleyan University and the Manchester
Garden Club is the photographer.
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Chapter 484 Fireworks Event
East Haven VVA Chapter 484 will present their 10th annual
fireworks display on June 27th at the East Haven Town Beach
in Momauguin. The start time for the day-long event is 12
noon with bands and food vendors. The fireworks display
begins at approximately 9:15pm.
As donations are needed to help hold this event, Chapter 484
would appreciate any donations you can make. Please go to
the Chapter’s webpage at
www.vva484.bbnow.org for a list
events and how you can make a donation for this special
annual event.
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Connection Available Through E-Mail
The Chapter 120 newsletter, The Connection, is available to
members who wish to receive this monthly publication via
e-mail versus US Postal Service. We currently have 56
members receiving the newsletter by e-mail, saving the
Chapter over $250 annually. To those members, we thank you
for making the decision to help the Chapter reduce its
postal expenses.
The newsletter is available in Adobe format and is sent
approximately one week earlier to members wishing an
electronic copy than those who receive the "snail-mail"
copy. This time difference is based on the lead-time for
printing and mailing the newsletter via USPS.
If you decide that you would wish to receive the newsletter
via e-mail attachment IN-LIEU of the "snail-mail" copy,
please e-mail the newsletter editor at jrcvva120@aol.com. If
at any time, you decide that you would like to change from
electronic copy back to the "snail-mail" copy, send an
e-mail to the newsletter editor. |
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Membership Renewals
Is your membership renewal about to become due? Please renew
today so you can continue to receive the award winning Chapter newsletter,
as well as The VVA Veteran! And as you renew, please
consider joining the other 133 members who have chosen Life
membership. |
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VVA State Council President Billee Culin delivers her
“Welcome Home” speech at the Capitol. President Culin was
instrumental in proposing and passing CT House Bill 5352,
“Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans’ Day”. |
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| Connecticut Department of
Veterans' Affairs Commissioner Linda S.
Schwartz delivers her remarks during the
March 30th ceremonies. |
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Vietnam Veterans Welcomed
Home
After nearly four decades, Vietnam veterans were
finally given a true "welcome home salute" at two
ceremonies - in Coventry, the home of the Connecticut
Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and at the State Capitol
in Hartford.
The ceremonies were held in
advance of House Bill 5352 being passed by the
Connecticut General Assembly. The House passed the
Bill on April 21 and was passed by
the State Senate on April 29.
Billee Culin, VVA State Council
President, was instrumental in introducing and
passing the Bill. She testified in a VA Committee
hearing in March, saying that a Welcome Home was
long overdue for our Vietnam veterans in the State.
Over the years, Vietnam veterans
have championed important veterans' issues such as
the Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Agent
Orange compensation, POW/MIA initiatives and helped
establish Vet Centers throughout the State and the
nation. These Vietnam veterans have not only helped
their own generation, but are helping the new
generation of veterans to obtain the benefits they so
rightfully earned and deserve.
Ending her eloquent and touching speech during the
Welcome Home ceremonies, CT DVA Commissioner Linda
Schwartz said, "We, the Veterans of the Vietnam War,
have cut a wide swath across the landscape of
America and probably will continue for years to
come. On this day, I thank all who made this
celebration special and salute all of Connecticut’s
84,000 living Veterans of the Vietnam War!"
As House Bill 5352 is signed into law
by the Governor, the people of Connecticut can truly
give our Vietnam Veterans a warm and
well-deserved... "Welcome Home"
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Voluntown honors
Marine’s sacrifice
Hundreds attend memorial service for resident, 19, killed in
Afghanistan
As Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man” flowed from a pair of
speakers outside the Voluntown Baptist Church Wednesday
morning, 19-year-old U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Tyler Owen
Griffin was remembered as a teenager devoted to family,
country and “loud, obnoxious music.” See
Voluntown Honors
Marine |
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POW/MIA |
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U.S. Soldiers MIA from Vietnam War
Identified
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office
announced that the remains of four U.S. servicemen, missing
in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and
returned to their families for burial with full military
honors. See
Soldiers MIA
U.S. Airman MIA from WWII is
Identified
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office
announced that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in
action from World War II, have been identified and returned
to his family for burial with full military honors. See
MIA
from WWII
DPMO News Releases
For the latest news
releases from the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel
Office (DPMO), click
HERE
National Alliance of
Families Newsletter
For the latest POW/MIA news from the
National Alliance of Families, see their
Bits 'n' Pieces Newsletter |
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At The Capitol |
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General Assembly needs to move on VA Bills
With only five of the 13 active bills passed, more work
must be done to move the remaining bills through the
Connecticut Legislature before the General Assembly adjourns
on May 5. Motor vehicle tax
exemptions for the military, tuition waiver
revisions, veterans' property tax exemption changes,
and establishing a task force for traumatic brain
injury (TBI) healthcare improvements are some of the
important issues yet to be passed in the General
Assembly. On the bright
side, female homeless veterans will get the needed
attention they deserve through a Bill (H.B. 5388)
that mandates a study on issues facing that veteran
population. And on April 29, the State Senate passed
H.B. 5352 (Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans' Day) - a
Bill that establishes March 30th of each year as
"Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans' Day". For a complete list of bills
passed by the Select
Committee on Veterans' Affairs, see
Bill Record Book |
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On The Hill |
Caregivers Bill Goes to President
On April 22, the Senate passed by unanimous consent S. 1963,
the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act
(LINK ) and sent it to President Obama for his signature.
The House had passed the bill the previous day by a vote of
419-0, but had amended it so it was returned to the Senate
for approval of the changes. The bill now heads to the
President for his signature into law.
Some of the more important provisions of the bill would;
• Fulfill VA’s obligation to care for the nation’s wounded veterans
by providing their caregivers with training, counseling,
supportive services, and a living stipend.
• Provide health care to the family caregivers of injured veterans
under CHAMPVA.
• Require independent oversight of the caregiver program.
The bill also establishes a permanent
program to support the caregivers of wounded warriors,
improve health |
care for veterans in rural
areas, help VA adapt to the needs of women veterans,
and expand supportive services for homeless
veterans.
While this bill will go a long way in helping those
family caregivers who need the extra assistance, it
should be extended to include the many veterans of
Persian Gulf War, Vietnam, Korea and WWII and other
conflicts whose family caregivers also deserve the
extra assistance in this bill. We hope that Congress
will expand the scope of the bill in the very near
future to include all veterans and their families.
VA Refuses to testify at
House Hearing on veterans' suicides
VA will not produce Dr. Robert Petzel and Tammy
Duckworth to testify at Oversight and Investigations
Subcommittee hearing. See
VA Refuses
Why the Senate Is Sitting on 309
Bills
The "hold" is a tactic so juvenile that
it isn't even in the Senate rules. Yet it's never
been more common, and it's keeping important
legislation at bay
By Madisonian design, the U.S. Senate is meant to be
the saucer that cools the passion of the House of
Representatives. In the 111th Congress, it's become
a freezer. There are currently 309 bills that have
passed the House and sit waiting for action—any kind
of action—in the Senate. The legislation on ice
affects everything from improved training for
commercial flight crews to extending life insurance
benefits for disabled veterans. This is not trivial
stuff. See
Senate is Sitting |
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Veterans'
Affairs News |
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Agent Orange Retro Claims Allowed
New Agent Orange Rule to Allow Retro Claims by
86,000
About 86,000 Vietnam War veterans, their surviving spouses
or estates will be eligible for retroactive disability
compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs – an
average of 11.4 years for veterans and 9.6 years for
survivors -- under a draft VA rule to expand by three the
number of diseases presumed caused by herbicide exposure in
the war. See
AO Retro Claims
VA Secretary Announces Staffing
Boost with Recovery Act Funds
Processing of Claims Targeted for Extra
Personnel
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is putting Americans
to work with funds from the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act, while bolstering staffing at VA benefits
offices where Veterans' claims are processed. See
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Vets' Charities Get $13 Million from VA's
Stolen Laptop Settlement
Fisher House Foundation and the Intrepid Fallen
Heroes Fund to share remainder of $20 million settlement
with veterans
Pay it forward. That's what a group of veterans is doing
with a $20 million class-action settlement from the
Department of Veterans Affairs over a massive identity-theft
suit. See
Vets' Charities
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2010 Federal
Veterans' Benefits Now Available
The 2010 Federal Veterans'
Benefits booklet is now available on the VA website.
Click on the picture to the right.
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A veteran - whether active duty, retired, or
national guard or reserve - is someone who, at one
point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable
to "The United States of America," for an amount of
"up to and including my life." That is honor, and
there are "way too many" people in this country who
no longer understand it. |
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