Thank You - Veterans Day

Today we remember, honor and thank all our loved ones and friends who have served in the military.  Thank you for defending our rights and the rights of other nations. May God bless each and every one of you.

We at National Write Your Congressman want to extend a special thank you to some of our own Veterans.  Pictured below are Representatives of NWYC, sons, daughters, fathers and mothers.  Thank you for being our heroes.....

Veterans Day - Wounded Warrior Project

On this Veteran's Day, I have chosen to honor Wounded Warrior Project and congratulate them on their 10th Anniversary of service to our nation's wounded servicemen and women.

Almost everyone remembers where they were when our nation was attacked on September 11, 2001. In the midst of overwhelming tragedy, loss of life, and all the ensuing fear and chaos many brave men and women stepped forward to join those who were already serving in the United States military to join the fight against terrorism.

As the war progressed several veterans and friends, moved by stories of the first wounded service members returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq, started providing backpacks with various comfort items to wounded service members. This was the beginning of the Wounded Warrior Project.  Over the last 10 years, WWP has developed 19 programs and services and provided assistance to injured service members with their visible and invisible injuries, like post-tramatic stress disorder (PTSD), at no cost to the warrior. They currently have more than 35,000 warriors and 4,100 family members registered with access to WWP's "high-touch" and personalized services.

While a number of veterans' service organizations assist post 9.11 veterans with the challenges of today, Wounded Warrior Project offers programs to help members with both their immediate and long-term needs. The programs and services range from mental health, economic needs, physical health and wellness to engagement with other warriors. The programs help injured service members work through more immediate challenges and establish a foundation for a lifetime of success.

WWP has also launched services and pilot programs that address some of the toughest issues surrounding long-term care for the most severely injured. The Independence Program works with local rehabilitative service providers to assist profoundly injured warriors in regaining the ability to perform the types of daily tasks that most people take for granted. The Long Term Support Program is in a pilot phase and was crafted to ensure that the most severely injured warriors will have access to quality care after their family member/care giver is no longer able to provide care.

The mission of Wounded Warrior Project is to honor and empower Wounded Warriors. WWP's purpose is to raise awareness and to enlist the publics' aid for the needs of injured service members, to help injured servicemen and women aid and assist each other, and to provide unique direct programs and services to meet their needs. WWP is a national, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. 

I became a member of the "Advanced Guard" of WWP two years ago, and I have found it to be an honest and honorable group who want nothing more than to just help our wounded servicemen and women.  If you are looking for a truly service-oriented organization to contribute to, please consider Wounded Warrior Project.  To learn more, visit www.woundedwarriorproject.org.  You can also "Like" their Facebook page and receive updates and inspiring stories at https://www.facebook.com/wwpinc.fans.

                                  

Veterans Day

World War I, known at the time as The Great War, officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. Amazingly, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, was regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”

In November 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words, "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…"

The original concept for the celebration was for a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11:00 a.m.
The United States Congress officially recognized the end of World War I when it passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926, with these words:

Whereas the 11th of November 1918, marked the cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals and the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed, and

Whereas it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations; and

Whereas the legislatures of twenty-seven of our States have already declared November 11 to be a legal holiday: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), that the President of the United States is requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.

On May 13, 1938, Congress passed an Act making the 11th of November of each year a legal holiday.  It was a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as "Armistice Day." Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting in its place the word "Veterans."  

National Write Your Congressman would like to sincerely thank all Veterans for their loyalty and sacrifice to our country, and to the freedoms of generations to come.

Pam Murphy

This obituary for Audie Murphy's widow, Pam Murphy, was sent to me by Darryl Adamson.  It was written in 2010, but is so touching it should be printed over and over.  What an example of enduring love she is.  Not just to her husband, but to all veterans.  She was a true patriot.

Los Angeles Daily News  4/14/2010

Pam Murphy, widow of Audie Murphy, was every veterans’ friend and advocate.

Pam Murphy was involved in the Sepulveda VA hospital  and care center over the course
of 35 years, treating every veteran who visited the facility as if they were a VIP. Pam Murphy
died last week at the age of 90.

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After Audie died, they all became her boys. Every last one of them.  Any soldier or Marine who walked into the Sepulveda VA hospital and care center in the last 35 years got the VIP treatment from Pam Murphy.  The widow of Audie Murphy – the most decorated soldier in World War II – would walk the hallways with her clipboard in hand making sure her boys got to see a specialist or doctor — STAT. If they didn’t, watch out.

Her boys weren’t Medal of Honor recipients or movie stars like Audie, but that didn’t matter to Pam. They had served their country. That was good enough for her.  She never called a veteran by his first name. It was always “Mister.” Respect came with the job.  “Nobody could cut through VA red tape faster than Mrs. Murphy,” said veteran Stephen Sherman, speaking for thousands of veterans she befriended over the years.
“Many times I watched her march a veteran who had been waiting more than an hour right into the doctor’s office. She was even reprimanded a few times, but it didn’t matter to Mrs. Murphy.  “Only her boys mattered. She was our angel.”

Last week, Sepulveda VA’s angel for the last 35 years died peacefully in her sleep at age 90.  “She was in bed watching the Laker game, took one last breath, and that was it,” said Diane Ruiz, who also worked at the VA and cared for Pam in the last years of her life in her Canoga Park apartment.  It was the same apartment Pam moved into soon after Audie died in a plane crash on Memorial Day weekend in 1971.  Audie Murphy died broke, squandering million of dollars on gambling, bad investments, and yes, other women.  “Even with the adultery and desertion at the end, he always remained my hero,” Pam told me.  She went from a comfortable ranch-style home in Van Nuys where she raised two sons to a small apartment – taking a clerk’s job at the nearby VA to support herself and start paying off her faded movie star husband’s debts.

At first, no one knew who she was. Soon, though, word spread through the VA that the nice woman with the clipboard was Audie Murphy’s widow.  It was like saying Patton had just walked in the front door. Men with tears in their eyes walked up to her and gave her a hug. “Thank you,” they said, over and over.  The first couple of years, I think the hugs were more for Audie’s memory as a war hero. The last 30 years, they were for Pam.

She hated the spotlight. One year I asked her to be the focus of a Veteran’s Day column for all the work she had done. Pam just shook her head no.  “Honor them, not me,” she said, pointing to a group of veterans down the hallway. “They’re the ones who deserve it.”  The vets disagreed. Mrs. Murphy deserved the accolades, they said.

Incredibly, in 2002, Pam’s job was going to be eliminated in budget cuts. She was considered “excess staff."  “I don’t think helping cut down on veterans’ complaints and showing them the respect they deserve, should be considered excess staff,” she told me.  Neither did the veterans. They went ballistic, holding a rally for her outside the VA gates.  Pretty soon, word came down from the top of the VA. Pam Murphy was no longer considered “excess staff.”  She remained working full time at the VA until 2007 when she was 87.  “The last time she was here was a couple of years ago for the conference we had for homeless veterans,” said Becky James, coordinator of the VA’s Veterans History Project.  Pam wanted to see if there was anything she could do to help some more of her boys.

Funeral services for Pam Murphy will be held Friday at 2:30 p.m. in the chapel at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles.

Veteran's Day Nov. 11, 2011

At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War ended. At 5 a.m. that morning, Germany, depleted of manpower and supplies and facing imminent invasion, signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside Compiégne, France.

President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed an "Armistice Day" for November 11, 1919 in memory of those who died in World War 1.  Wilson said, "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations."

In 1938 President Calvin Coolidge issued a proclamation to make November 11 the legal holiday, "a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day'."

In 1953 a man named Stephan Riod, the owner of a shoe repair shop in Emporia Kansas, had the idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all Veterans, not just those who died in World War I.  With the help of U.S. Representative John Salper a bill for the holiday was pushed through Congress.  President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into law, and the name "Armistice" was replaced with "Veterans".

This November 11, 2011,  Americans need to personally thank the Veterans they know for the sacrifice made by them to keep us at home safe with the ability to live in a free country.  If you do not know a Veteran and you see a Soldier in the mall, church, airport, or any where go up and tell that person thank you!

Veterans Day

The temporary cessation of hostilities during "The Great War", World War I, ceased between the Allied Nations and Germany on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.  For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as Armistice Day.

On May 13, 1938 an Act was passed by the government making the 11th of November of each year a legal holiday - a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated as "Armistice Day."  Armistice day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and Airmen in the Nation's history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organization, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting in its place "Veterans."  With the approval of this legislation on June 1, 1954, November 11 became the day to honor American Veterans of all wars.

Today take the time to thank all your family members, friends, and co-workers who served in the Armed Forces of the United States.  My personal thanks go to my father, Ted Francis Sullins, who served in the South Pacific during World War II.