Vietnam veteran

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He Recalled His Winter With No Heat. Out Came His Wallet

Florida businessman ponies up $4.6K to pay off utility bills for 36 families

(Newser) - When Michael Esmond saw the Dec. 26 due date on his utility bill, he had a flashback to 1983. "My gas was shut off, and we had no heating for the whole winter," one of the coldest ever in Florida, the 73-year-old father of three tells CNN . Indeed,...

Man Pens Poignant Obituary to 'Damaged' Brother, a Vietnam Vet

Bill Ebeltoft was never the same after return from war, but Paul Ebeltoft's tribute recalls the old Bill

(Newser) - In an obituary that CNN calls more of a "journey" than a death notice, a New York man penned a tribute to his brother, Vietnam veteran Bill Ebeltoft, who died Sunday at age 73. The now-viral obit, which appeared in the Dickinson Press in North Dakota, where Ebeltoft and...

An Early Holiday Bonus for This Worker: Early Retirement

Boss Rudy Quinones paid off Albert Brigas' mortgage so he could go spend time with family

(Newser) - Albert Brigas, a 69-year-old Vietnam vet from Texas, has been working for Renown Auto Restoration in San Antonio for 13 years, and he had his eye on retiring sometime in 2020, after plunking down the final mortgage payment on the house he's lived in for nearly a quarter century....

Patton Oswalt Got Trolled on Twitter. His Troll Is Now 'Humbled'

Comedian directed fans to donate money to sick man's GoFundMe

(Newser) - A Twitter troll went after Patton Oswalt—and the comedian managed to turn it into one of the most uplifting stories of the week. It started Wednesday, when Oswalt made fun of President Trump on Twitter , which provoked snarky reactions from 64-year-old Michael Beatty, including saying he was happy Oswalt'...

Gun Collector Gets 7 Years for His 'Piece de Resistance'

Vietnam vet Alfred Pick had illegal M14

(Newser) - The fully automatic M14, spotted at a Texas gun show in the early 1980s, reminded Alfred Pick of the weapon he'd carried as an Army lieutenant in Vietnam. So he bought it, even though the gun was illegal to own and its serial number had been scratched out. Decades...

Search for Vietnam War Buddy Goes Viral

His platoon called him 'Louisiana,' and hope social media outreach can track him down

(Newser) - All they have is a photo from the 1970s, a nickname, and social media—but the veterans from one Vietnam War platoon are hoping that will be enough to track down the buddy they called "Louisiana." Posting from her husband's Vietnam reunion earlier this month, Susan Waldrop...

Medal of Honor Recipient Endured 'Hell' to Save 10

James McCloughan honored for his bravery in Vietnam

(Newser) - Saving a life may be a common bucket-list entry, but it's one that's rarely checked off. James McCloughan could've done so 10 times over two days in 1969. Ignoring his lieutenant's orders to evacuate Nui Yon Hill in Vietnam after shrapnel cut into his head and...

'I Dodged All Those Bullets, Then Get Killed by a Fish': Vietnam Vet

Veterans afflicted with rare cancer brought on by fish-borne parasite

(Newser) - They were the lucky ones who managed to make it home from Vietnam. Now, a half-century later, some veterans are finding out they, too, are victims of the war. The enemy is a known killer in parts of Asia: parasites ingested in raw or poorly cooked river fish, the AP...

Each Thought the Other Died in War. 47 Years Later, a Miracle

Herman Johnson and Fred Rivera reunited, and much more

(Newser) - Fred Rivera believed his best friend, Herman Johnson, died in his arms after a rocket hit them during a Vietnam War firefight in 1969. "Surviving comrades of that horrid day presented me a bracelet fashioned from the leather laces of Herman’s boots," Rivera writes of what followed...

Vietnam Vet's Ashes Spread With an Actual Bang

Utah man's ashes loaded into 50 shotgun shells

(Newser) - A Vietnam War veteran literally went out with a bang on Saturday, reports the St. George Spectrum . The son of Walter "Jim" Hosey of LaVerkin, Utah, loaded a total of 50 12-gauge shotgun shells with his father's ashes and fired them off at the Southern Utah Shooting Sports...

Vietnam Vet Finds Lost Love, New Mystery

Jim Reischl to start new search for daughter he never met

(Newser) - In January, Jim Reischl will visit Vietnam for the fifth year in a row. But this visit will be different. For four years the Vietnam vet has been searching for his long-lost love , whom he last saw in person when he shipped out in 1970. Now, he'll finally see...

Craigslist 'Missed Connection' Hailed as Best Ever
 Craigslist 'Missed Connection' 
 Hailed as Best Ever 
in case you missed it
Oct 10, 2015 9:21 AM CDT

Craigslist 'Missed Connection' Hailed as Best Ever

A man met a woman on the last day of 1972, and decided not to kill himself

(Newser) - A week after a man flew four B-52 sorties over Hanoi, dropping a total of 48 bombs over an unknown number of homes, he holed up in an apartment in Boston with a fifth of Tennessee rye and a Smith & Wesson Model 15, and vowed, upon returning from a...

Vietnam Vets Yearn for Women, Kids Left Behind

Jim Reischl says a child he never knew could be out there

(Newser) - Four decades after the Vietnam War, Jim Reischl still remembers how her long hair fell down her back that night in a bar in Saigon. He remembers the drink he bought her—a cup of tea—and her name, Linh Hoa. He also remembers some of the last words she...

Elderly Veteran Loses Job for Giving Away Muffin

Cracker Barrel says it's his 5th time violating company policy

(Newser) - A 73-year-old Vietnam veteran has lost his job for giving a needy man a muffin—and says he doesn't regret his moment of charity, Fox News reports. Joe Koblenzer was working as a Cracker Barrel host in Venice, Fla., when a homeless-looking man came in asking for tartar sauce...

Vietnam Vet Returns Arm Bones to Amputee

Dr. Sam Axelrad had kept them as memento

(Newser) - An American doctor arrived in Vietnam recently carrying an unlikely piece of luggage: the bones of an arm he amputated in 1966. Dr. Sam Axelrad brought the skeletal keepsake home to Texas as a reminder that when a badly injured North Vietnamese soldier was brought to him, he did the...

Vietnam Veterans Sue Military
 Vietnam Veterans Sue Military 
Dec 3, 2012 8:44 AM CST

Vietnam Veterans Sue Military

They want undesirable discharges upgraded due to PTSD

(Newser) - John Shepherd Jr. enlisted in the Army in 1968 and was awarded a Bronze Star for his service during the Vietnam War, yet he can't get veterans benefits today due to his undesirable discharge (now known as an other-than-honorable discharge). Shepherd was court-martialed and discharged after he started acting...

Vietnam Vets: Fix Memorial's Misspelled Name

Their ally wasn't called 'Shephen'

(Newser) - A pair of Vietnam veterans have a problem with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington: It lists their ally, Stephen Hiett Phillips, as "Shephen." "One doesn't honor a person by misspelling their name," says one member of Phillips' regiment. The mistake appears to be the...

Boston Marathon's Oldest Runner: 81, Cancer Survivor

Clarence Hartley beat qualifying time by 21 minutes ... then beat that time today

(Newser) - For its oldest runner, the Boston Marathon is no big deal: Clarence Hartley may be 81, but he’s fought in two wars—Korea and Vietnam—and conquered both non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and prostate cancer. He easily qualified for the race, beating his age and gender's required time of...

Vietnam Vet Receives Medal of Honor Posthumously

Bravery in Laos was a secret for decades

(Newser) - President Obama awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor today for an act of bravery the military had covered up for decades. Chief Master Sgt. Richard Etchberger was killed while helping three wounded comrades onto an evacuation helicopter during an attack on a US outpost in Laos. But for years, the...

Joe Biden Jokes About Blumenthal's War Record

Vice president takes a dig at veterans' hospital

(Newser) - It's politically volatile territory, so someone cue up the vice president for a joke. During a barbecue today at the Walter Reed Medical Center, Joe Biden just couldn't help himself, reports the Hill . "I didn't serve in Vietnam. I don't want to make a Blumenthal mistake here," he...

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