75 Years Since the Greatest Amphibious Invasion in History!
Message from Remember My Service President, Sharlene Wells Hawkes
Over the weekend, my 21-year-old son, Jacob, suggested we watch Saving Private Ryan again. We did, and those first minutes don’t get any easier to watch, no matter how many times you see the movie. It’s real. But this is an important movie to my son. When he was 10, the whole family went backpacking through Europe and we spent one day at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. When we returned to the States, Jacob really wanted to see the movie that we had talked about, which I thought was way too graphic for him that age. He didn’t give up though—he really wanted to understand why that cemetery meant so much to us. After he saw the movie, he told me, “I want to go back there again,” because this time, he would understand.
So when he was 15, just the two of us went over. This time we spent three days in Normandy, exploring Sword Beach, Utah Beach, Saint–Mere-Eglise, Pointe du Hoc, and, of course, Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery. After we spent a few hours in the visitors center, and walking all over the sacred grounds that include 38 sets of brothers buried together, we found the path that led down to Omaha Beach through the thick foliage (I understand that path has now been closed). As we neared the beach, still working through dense brush, I heard unexpected sounds of laughter, and children squealing as they played in the surf. I was surprised—I guess I thought that Omaha Beach should be treated like hallowed ground just like the cemetery. “Shouldn’t the families be more respectful here?” I asked our guide. She smiled and simply said, “That is the sound of freedom. That’s why so many men died here.” We wandered on the beach for a while, picking up small rocks to take this piece of costly history home with us. Jacob filled a small bottle with sand, just like he had seen one soldier do in the movie.
I asked Jacob this week what he remembered most about that day, and he said the beach, the bunkers, the cemetery with all those names on the wall of the missing, and the huge bronze statue, the “Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves.” Everything about that day is burned into his memory and mine. After we left Normandy, we travelled to Krakow, Poland, to spend a day at Auschwitz, where the reason and need for D-Day was horrifically illustrated and proven.
That was an unforgettable experience to share with my son, and I share those memories here because in about a week, on June 6, we will all be honoring and remembering one of the greatest military achievements of all time, and the greatest amphibious invasion in history: the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
In 2007, Secretary Bob Gates spoke at the American Cemetery. Following are some excerpts:
On June 5th, 1944, a mass of men and ships the likes of which the world had never seen set sail from across the Channel. An intelligence officer later described the awesome sight. “The vast machinery of invasion had started to move, inevitably and relentlessly. It was exhilarating, glorious, and heartbreaking.”
For those who were here, the next day, June 6th, unfolded as if it were a lifetime. Men who had only recently felt the warmth of their families now felt the frigid waters of the English Channel and the lonely sands of a war-torn, windswept beachhead. Men who had just a few months earlier been boys in the midst of adolescence suddenly found themselves traversing a warren of lethal obstacles on beaches named Omaha, Utah, Gold, Juno, and Sword.
Here, at what came to be known as “Bloody Omaha,” the allied offensive faltered and almost failed. Bad intelligence, bad weather, bad luck—they all conspired against the landing forces.
In its horror, the scene was breathtaking. One GI said that the first men on the beach tumbled “just like corncobs off of a conveyor belt.” Another described Omaha as nothing more than “the dead and dying and the people coming in to replace them.” That day, the blood of the dead and the dying turned the seas red.
We build memorials like this to remind us of the past. So that successive generations will know the enormous cost of freedom. So that our children and grandchildren will never forget the stories of those who fought here. So that the passage of time and the thinning of their ranks will never dim the glory of their deeds.
One of our key RMS team members, Elise Norton, and her husband, Matt, are actually heading over to Normandy this week to attend the ceremonies in person. I’m so jealous. They have a great reason to be there: Matt’s grandfather, John Norton, was a paratrooper on D-Day, and later became a three-star general. “I’m looking forward to experiencing the atmosphere, surrounded by veterans and this significant history,” says Elise. “I especially want to walk on Omaha and Utah beaches. This is important to our family, let alone our country.”
If you want to know about D-Day events in your area, please visit this website that has a massive list of events taking place: www.dday-anniversary.com
The last thing I saw as I walked out of the visitors center in 2013 was this quote on the wall that beautifully emphasizes America’s cause-driven fight for right:
“If ever proof were needed that we fought for a cause and not for conquest it could be found in these cemeteries. Here was our only conquest: all we asked…was enough…soil in which to bury our gallant dead.”
— General Mark W. Clark
I close with a shout-out to my family’s WWII veterans: my dad, Robert Earl Wells (still walking briskly every day for an hour at 91 years old—he was in flight training when the war ended); Uncle Walter Walser (Army Air Corps); Uncle Roy Walser (Army Air Corp, a Pearl Harbor survivor, and just recently died at age 98); Uncle Stan Walser (Navy Air Corp, 95 when he died), and my Uncle-in-law Bill Clark (a member of the Flying Tigers who was shot down and evaded capture).
Please remember to tune into the news on June 6—you won’t want to miss the “D-Day Squadron” flyover of dozens of C-47 Dakota transports. It won’t be the 800 or so aerial armada that filled the skies 75 years ago, but it will be an impressive reminder!
Warm Regards,
Veteran’s Music Festival & Expo – August 11, 2019
Texas Edition of Vietnam 50th Commemorative: “We Care About You!”
Remember My Service
March Update: from Remember My Service President, Sharlene Wells Hawkes
This week, the Texas Edition of the Vietnam 50th Commemorative Gift went to print, which means it will be ready for distribution on Memorial Day. That right there is great news! But here’s the part I really love. There is an important new change to the dust jacket that acts on the repeated message from Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Sec. Robert Wilkie, about finding the veterans who are not in the VA system so they can get the help they deserve. At the top of the information for veterans on the dust jacket, Texas chose the headline “We Care About You!”
Before I give you the link so you can see exactly what’s on this dust jacket that makes it so important, I’ll explain a bit more about what Sec. Wilkie has referenced in speeches, meetings, and television interviews the last few months.
In November, he spoke at the National Press Club, where he shared very sobering statistics: “I need help in finding those veterans who are not in our system. Twenty veterans a day take their lives. Fourteen of those twenty are outside our VA system… we have to get those people into our system.” In February, I was at the Washington, D.C., meetings for the National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs, where Sec. Wilkie shared the exact same message. At the end, he added, “The vast majority of those are Vietnam veterans.”
This is tragic! We cannot allow this travesty in our communities, states, and nation. Americans already behaved shamelessly 50 years ago, when we allowed our military to be treated with such disdain—whether they were returning from Vietnam, or serving in the ROTC, or serving in Germany, they were not treated with any of the respect we have learned to give our military today. So it is on us, the average American citizen, to do something about finding those veterans who are not in the system. We need to show them that now they can proudly step forward as warriors who served their country, and that they deserve all the care and benefits abundantly available.
The Texas Edition, specifically the dust jacket flap ( click here to see the dust jacket—look on the left-hand side), is all about outreach. Outreach to the 52% of veterans not in the system, a great majority of them Vietnam veterans, to give them the specific information they need so they don’t have to sift through all the choices online. The message on the back flap that starts with “We Care About You!” is to all Texas Vietnam veterans (and to anyone in the military, past or present, nationwide) with very specific information on how they can get 24/7 immediate attention by phone, text, email, chat, you name it. We even put in the White House VA hotline. Moving forward, we will be adding this information to all new state editions as they go to print!
Thank you to the Texas Veterans Commission (Tom and Cruz especially), the Texas Veterans of Foreign Wars Foundation (Beth Creasey!), Office of the Governor, and the 2019 Texas Inaugural Committee for your hard work on this gift to meaningfully recognize and honor your Vietnam veterans! We are so pleased to include this new information that will have a lasting impact on Vietnam veterans and their families.
Warm Regards,
Sharlene
Women Veterans’ Network: From the March Quarterly Newsletter
Our Sisters that Served in Vietnam, Welcome Home!
The 2008 National Defense Authorization Act (Public Law 110-181 sec 598) empowers the Secretary of Defense to conduct a program on behalf of the nation that commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. This law also authorizes the Secretary to coordinate, support and facilitate federal, state, and local governments commemorative programs and activities. On May 25, 2012 ,”The United States of American Vietnam War Commeration” was formed by presidential proclamation on May 25, 2012, being Memorial Day 2012 through Veterans Day 2025. Under the current administration in 2017; March 29th was named as Vietnam War Veterans Day (Presidential Proclamation Regarding Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017).
Along with Vietnam War Veterans Day on the 29th, March has been designated as Women’s History Month. The Department of Veterans’ Services would like to take this opportunity to recognize all of our women veterans and pay special tribute to our Women Veterans that served in Vietnam.
During the Vietnam Conflict, men and women played different yet equally important roles. Approximately 7500 women served in Vietnam as nurses and administrative support staff while many more chose to volunteer with humanitarian organizations such as the Red Cross to support our nation.
In 2017 the Women Veterans’ Network gave the Deborah Sampson Award to LTC Jay Barrett (Ret. USA) who served with the 82nd Airborne as a nurse. Today, Jay continues to serve the veteran community through her work with the Veterans Administration as a Nurse Manager for Women’s Health in Jamaica Plain and Brockton VA facilities.
Athough, women were not authorized to serve in combat roles women were often found on the front lines providing critical services to our forces. Today, those rules have changed; in March 2016, Ash Carter, the Secretary of Defense at the time, approved final plans from military service branches and the U.S. Special Operations Command to open all combat jobs to women, authorizing the military to begin integrating female combat soldiers “right away”.
Men that served with these brave women in country in Vietnam have stated “the nurses that served in Vietnam were the bravest women they have ever seen.”. We recognize the women that served in Vietnam and Korea and before and thank them for their service and blazing a trail for all women veterans since to follow.
Below are the names of the women who paid the ultimate price during the Vietnam War. Their memory remains immortalized on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC., they include:1st Lt. Sharon Ann Lane, 2nd Lt. Pamela Dorothy Donovan, Col. Annie Ruth Graham, Mary Therese Klinker, 2nd Lt. Carol Ann Elizabeth Drazba, 2nd Lt. Elizabeth Ann Jones, Eleanor Grace Alexander, 1st Lt. Hedwig Diane Orlowski; these are the names of the fallen that appear on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC. They are not forgotten. Forever grateful for their service and sacrifice.
What Is Whole Health And Why Is It The Hot New Thing at the VA?
For years, when I go to the doctor’s office, someone asks me “What’s the matter with you?” or something similar to that. I guess they assume I am there because I have something wrong with me. But what would it be like if someone asked me “What matters to you?” Rather than telling them about my aches and pains, I might tell them I would like to get back to skiing or that gardening makes me happy and lately I haven’t been able to do it as much because my knees and hip hurt. That is the very heart and soul of what makes Whole Health so important. The focus is on me, what is important to me in my life, what may get in the way of participating in what is important to me, and various ways to work towards being able to do it. How can I take charge of my life? How can the clinicians I work with help me to realize my goals?
Here at the VA, we are asking those very questions. We are looking at eight components of health and wellbeing, identifying those where we are very strong and those where we have challenges. These area include Working your Body (energy and flexibility), Surroundings (physical and emotional), Personal Development (personal life and work life), Food and Drink (nourishing and fueling), Recharge (sleep and refresh), Family, Friends, and Coworkers (relationships), Spirit and Soul (growing and connecting), and Power of the Mind (Relaxing and Healing). What does this mean? Let’s look at our surroundings, for example. Are they cluttered, with harsh light, too noisy, too disorganized? If this causes me distress and makes it difficult to concentrate and stay focused, I might work on creating a soothing, organized place to do my best thinking. The whole health model is a holistic look at the many areas of life that can affect your health — your work environment, relationships, diet, sleep patterns, and more. (The Components of Proactive Health and Well-Being helps illustrate how these areas are all interconnected.
Important to Whole Health is also the inclusion of both conventional medical help as well as complementary approaches to health, such as yoga, acupuncture, massage, tai chi, and more. For example, if my goals include getting in better shape and losing weight so that my knees and hip don’t hurt as much and will help me to get back to skiing and gardening, my provider might suggest I look at the use of yoga. This video might be my inspiration.
In the upcoming months, we all have opportunities to explore various health and wellness activities. Some of the highlights include: VA Boston Wellness Fair on June 6th from 10-2 at the Brockton campus by building 23/Gym, Bedford VA Wellness Fair on June 22nd from 10-2 on the Oval (2nd Annual Women Veterans’ Health Fair “Innovative Care for Exceptional Women), Women’s Yoga group at VA Boston on the JP campus (for a full list of classes and events: VA Boston and VA Bedford) or the Healthy Living program at VA Central Western MA (VA Central Mass).
Learn more here learn more about this whole health approach.
