Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

This month, Veterans Advantage attended with other top officials an extraordinary French Legion of Honor award ceremony to commemorate the 65th Anniversary of the Allied landing at Normandy. In a private military ceremony on a beautiful and cloudless June 5th, 32 American Veterans of D-Day together with 9 British Veterans were awarded the Legion of Honor, France’s highest decoration at Les Invalides in Paris, the location of Napoleon’s tomb. Napoleon established the order and decoration in 1802. French Veterans Minister Kevan Jones attended the presentation with Jean-Marie Bockel, the French Minister of State for Defence and Veterans, who personally awarded the medal to our WWII vets, the youngest of whom was 85.

Lin and I had the opportunity to meet with the Honorable General Erick K. Shinseki, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs and former U.S. Army Chief of Staff, who represented the United States, together with former Senators Bob and Elizabeth Dole. Secretary Shinseki and Senator Bob Dole were awarded the Legion of Honor in a previous ceremony.

Senator Bob Dole, a disabled US WWII Veteran decorated three times for heroism, had been invited by President Obama to travel with him to France for the 65th anniversary of D-Day to represent the American World War II generation, clearly a great choice given his outstanding WWII service, his long and distinguished career in public service, and his continued commitment to veterans. He told us he’s made countless trips to Normandy!

Senator Dole is also very proud to have served as chairman of the National World War II Memorial in Washington, which raised $175 million in private funds for its construction. He told us that he is active in the “Honor Flight” network, which flies World War II veterans from across the U.S. without charge to view the memorial and loves to personally greet the flights bringing them to Washington.

We were so proud to be able to attend such an significant event and for the opportunity to bear witness to those 32 amazing American WWII vets who received such an important honor.

More about Veterans Advantage.

Veterans Advantage Co-Founders Scott Higgins (r) and Lin Higgins (l) with US Secretary of Veterans Affairs Shinseki

Veterans Advantage founders, with their daughter, Drew, and with former US Senators Bob and Elizabeth Dole

Tags: D-Day, Les Invalides, Paris
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Friday, June 19th, 2009

If the family is still scratching their heads on what to get Dad for Father’s Day, here’s a last-minute idea: We just added a whole bunch of special online relationships with leading retailers and there are 15-20% discounts for Veterans Advantage members! In the Sporting Goods category, we welcome Dick’s Sporting Goods, Sports, Authority, FogDog, Modell’s and others to meet your outdoor and weekend warrior sport equipment and clothing needs. You can get the leading gear, team-logo merchandise, home gym equipment and more and never have to visit stores again! It’s a great combination with our GNC.com discount (another 15% savings) for the cutting edge sports nutrition to keep you in top shape with your new gear.

For those of you who are outdoor hunters, campers and dog owners, like several on our staff – we are also proud to announce a special 10% online discount with Orvis. More on that here.

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Thursday, June 18th, 2009

It’s great to see the New York Yankees continue its strong support of the U.S. Military. We noticed that U.S. Army Gen. Anne E. Dunwoody, commander, U.S. Army Materiel Command, threw out the first pitch at the New York Yankees-New York Mets Army Appreciation Game at Yankee Stadium in New York, June 14, 2009. We profiled Gen. Dunwoody late last year, honoring her for becoming our nation’s first female four-star general.

Yankee bats joined in the honors as well. The Yankees defeated their crosstown rival New York Mets 15-0. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Richard A. Guzman)

Dunwoody’s First Pitch

Tags: dunwoody, first, new york, pitch, yankee
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Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Those on staff here had a chuckle to watch the latest “Colbert Report,” starring Stephen Colbert as he traded yuks with Gen. Odierno, airing on tape from one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces. The show, which is due to air from Iraq most of this week received assistance from the USO. Colbert came on stage like a former USO star – Bob Hope – swinging a golf club and joking about the weather.

But the kicker was watching Odierno shave Colbert’s head, on orders from President Obama.

Both the character and the real Colbert are ardent supporters of the troops. He has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Yellow Ribbon Fund, which helps injured service members and their families, and is a board member of DonorsChoose.org, which is raising money for the education of children of military parents.

Tags: colbert, donorschoose.org, odierno shave colbert’s head
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Thursday, June 4th, 2009

In the spirit of reminder and remembrance — Father’s Day is about two weeks away – we’ve loaded lots of discounts into this week’s members-only newsletter especially for Dads and Grads. If you are not yet a member, we e-mail our members each week with their latest benefits added to our program, as well as news relevant to their military service.

For instance, this week we feature Charles Bolden as our new HeroVet. The son of a teacher, and a proud grandfather himself, this Marine has been nominated to be the next NASA administrator. He will lead an organization that by virtue of its ambitious challenges has been inspiring young people for 50 years. Bolden has made speaking out for military kids a priority, reminding educators and the public of the unique challenges they face.

Speaking of special days and special dads, Saturday is D-Day, an important day for many fathers of Veterans Advantage members…and VA members themselves. Be sure to pause to remember those who served and sacrificed in WWII, so that we could enjoy the freedoms we have today.

And most importantly, we must do our part to keep this message alive. Recent reports suggest the National D-Day Memorial, unveiled just eight years ago, is experiencing a severe drop-off in donations that threatens its existence. Please consider making a donation to keep it alive, by clicking here.

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