Over the past few weeks, I, like many of you, have been inundated daily with news from our nation’s capital about the current administration’s new way of doing business.
Between mass employee layoffs, funding freezes, program cuts, and agency restructures across the entire government, it is hard to know exactly what to sound the alarm about.
Upfront, I want to tell you the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) know our members and other veterans are concerned.
We’ve received a multitude of calls and emails from veterans worried about what’s happening with federal benefit programs and the federal workforce, including 1,000 VA probationary employees who were let go yesterday.
They’ve asked if their VA benefits will be cut, or health care and services be diminished because of the confusion in Washington, D.C.
Make no mistake, the staff at the VFW Washington Office is working hard behind the scenes to protect you and ensure you receive the care and benefits you have earned.
When the hiring freeze was announced earlier this month, the VFW intervened to make sure that critical VA positions were left alone.
When the funding freeze was announced, VFW worked around the clock to ensure the Office of Management and Budget maintained all 44 critical VA programs.
When the federal buyout and reductions in force were announced, we insisted that VA communicate which critical positions would be exempt.
Each step of the way, we have received the answers we’ve needed. VA payments for disability and education went out on time.
Hiring for critical positions resumed, and more than 43,000 VA employees were exempted and retained in critical care and benefit delivery positions.
In December, we put our stake in the ground, insisting that leaders “Honor the Contract” for veterans’ benefits. In his confirmation hearing, Secretary Collins refuted the notion that veterans would be means tested to receive their earned disability.
He reiterated this point in a public statement earlier this week. VFW is going to hold him to this. We will make sure that Secretary Collins “Honors the Contract.”
I will keep all veterans updated as any developments happen. Our post will be holding a pancake breakfast on Sunday March 16th. We will have pancakes (blueberry if you desire), sausage, bacon, fruit, coffee and juice.
Start off your St. Patrick’s Day with a nice breakfast. The cost will be a good will offering starting at 8 am till noon. Hope to see you all.
This coming March the District 3 of NY will be holding its Gold Chevron Dinner along with a business meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn in Clifton Park, NY.
At this affair the District winners of the Patriot Pen and Voice of Democracy contests be awarded. Next year I hope that WAJCS will be in attendance.
This week’s MIA report from the Defense Accounting Agency announced that U.S. Army Pvt. James C. Loyd, 19, of Brilliant, Alabama, missing in action during World War II, was accounted for March 14, 2024. In January 1944, Loyd was assigned to the Company F, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division. On Jan. 31, Loyd was reported missing when his unit was engaged by German Forces near the town of Cisterna di Latina (Cisterna), Italy. He was last seen during a reconnaissance patrol north of the village of Conca. His body was not recovered, and the Germans never reported him a prisoner of war. The War Department issued a finding of death on Apr. 19, 1945.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), Army Quartermaster Corps, was the organization tasked with recovering missing American personnel in the European Theater. In 1945, AGRC investigators recovered a set of remains designated as X-834, near the small hamlet of Ponte Rotto thought to be associated with Loyd. The investigators didn’t have enough identifying data to positively ID the remains, and they were interred at U.S. Military Cemetery Nettuno, which is now Sicily-Rome American Cemetery. He was declared non-recoverable in 1948.
While studying unresolved American losses in the Anzio battlefield, a DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains designated X-834 recovered near Ponte Rotto possibly belonged to Pvt. Loyd. The remains which had been buried at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, Nettuno, Italy, in 1948, were disinterred in September 2021 and sent to the DPAA laboratory for identification To identify Loyd's remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis. Loyd will be buried in Elwood, Illinois, in May 2025.
Please keep all who have given the ultimate sacrifice, in your thoughts and prayers, along with all who have served our country and those still serving. May God Bless America.
Marc Farmilette – Past Commander Post 1545
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