HeroVet
WeSalute Awards
HeroVet: Admiral James Loy
Whether it’s protecting thousands of miles of American coastline from maritime threats, or securing millions of square miles for domestic air travel, The Department of Homeland Security’s Deputy Head Admiral James Loy, the Coast Guard’s former Commandant is passionate about keeping our nation safe.
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HeroVet: Senator John Warner
Warner’s first opportunity for public service began during World War II when in January 1945, at age 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy.
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HeroVet: Brig. Gen. Steve Ritchie, Air Force Ace
What is a "hero"? This overused term confuses celebrity with accomplishment in our media-driven age. Yet America does have heroes – real heroes, living and dead – who placed themselves in harm’s way, who risked life and limb to save the lives of others, who earned the mantle of hero because of their exploits in combat.
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HeroVet: Ed Vick, Learning about Leadership In the Brown-Water Navy
"Vietnam," says Ed Vick, “was about growing up. As bad as it was, Vietnam changed my life for the better, all things considered.”
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HeroVet: Tony Principi, VA Secretary Balances Needs, Goals with Resources
Each month, most of us have to pay our bills and fulfill our financial obligations with the money we have in our checkbooks. The way of life is no different for administrators in government. They have to divvy up the resources made available to them by the appropriating authorities, e.g., Congress, to fulfill the mission and meet the statutory needs of their departments.
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HeroVet: Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona
It wasn’t the most auspicious of upbringings for this role model of personal growth and responsibility. Born and raised in New York City’s famous "barrio" of Spanish Harlem, the now-Surgeon General dropped out of school, as his siblings and friends.
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HeroVet: In Memory of Pat Tillman, U.S. Army
Former Arizona Cardinals safety, Pat Tillman, along with his brother Kevin received the Author Ashe Courage Award for choosing the U.S. army over pro sports. "The guy has got something to him and that’s why I wanted him on the team all these years. When a lot of people doubted if he could play, he never doubted it," said Cardinals Head Coach Dave McGinnis after the 2002 decision.
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HeroVet: Ned Powell, Expanding The Visibility & Mission of the USO
During wartime, many politicians offer plaudits and platitudes attesting to the courage and sacrifice of the young men and women on the front lines of freedom. Too often, though, too many of this chorus of promoters fade from sight when the shooting ceases and the time comes to assist active-duty military and provide services
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HeroVet: Ray Kelly, NYC Police Commissioner
The terrorist attack that collapsed the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan seared the souls of Americans everywhere. For Ray Kelly, it was a defining moment.
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HeroVet: Mitchell Paige, Exposing Medal of Honor Imposters
When Mitchell Paige was six years old, his mother took him to an Armistice Day parade. (Armistice Day, for those too young to be familiar with the term, celebrated the eleventh hour of the eleventh
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HeroVet: U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Terry Allvord, Honoring Heroes at Home And Abroad
With the first hints of baseball season in the air, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Terry Allvord may be eagerly lacing up his spikes for his 14th season leading the charge for the Navy Baseball Program, but he's proudly got more on his plate: Promoting a patriotic foundation honoring search and rescue heroes at home and our troops in the Persian Gulf.
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HeroVet: Bobby Hollingsworth, A Passionate Advocate for Members Of the Reserve and National Guard
About as far back as he can remember, way back when he was a tow-headed two-year-old on his daddy’s farm in rural Louisiana, a passion to be a pilot fired the imagination of Bobby Hollingsworth. When an uncle came home in his Navy whites with wings, fresh from flying an F-6 Hellcat in the South Pacific, Bobby knew, he knew, what he wanted to be.
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HeroVet: Crew of the Columbia Space Shuttle
They were the best America has to offer, the astronauts who perished as their spaceship, the shuttle Columbia, disintegrated upon re-entry to earth’s atmosphere less than an hour before its scheduled landing. They represented a cross-section of America: two were wo
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HeroVet: Vince McGowan, Reviving NYC's Veteran Community
The general sat, stone-faced, as the sergeant pointed to the briefing map and gave his standard 15-minute spiel about the successes of the Combined Action Program in the village of Binh Nghia.
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HeroVet: Phillip Martin, Chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians
Gone are the days when almost three-quarters of the people on the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indian Reservation were unemployed and one-third of them had no formal education. And gone are the days when Choctaws were relegated to a livelihood of sharecropping, labor-type jobs, and welfare lines.
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HeroVet: Marine Vet Chuck Meadows Makes Peace Clearing Unexploded Relics of War
He is unremarkable in appearance. He could be a college professor or an accountant, a small-businessman, maybe. To borrow a cliché, though: Never, ever judge a book by its cover. Chuck Meadows is a career Marine, seared by combat, who now makes peace with those against whom he waged war.
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HeroVet: Retired Army Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy Helps At-risk Children
She was born in Frankfurt, Germany, the daughter of an Army officer, and grew up an Army brat. She graduated from Southwestern University at Memphis, in Tennessee, earning a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy. Believing that "to be an equal citizen, you need to bear equal responsibility, and when your country's at war, you do what you can to help," she joined the Army in June 1969. She was commissioned a second lieutenant through the Women's Army Corps.
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HeroVet: Robert Glassman, A Banker Dedicated to Social Justice
Robert Glassman is a banker, and this is the mission statement of the bank he serves as co-chairman: With a sense of inclusion and diversity that extends from the boardroom to the mailroom, Wainwright Bank & Trust Company resolves to be a leading socially responsible bank . . . equally committed to all its stakeholders - employees, customers, communities and shareholders.
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Jack Farley, Teaching Young People About War’s Lessons
He had been working toward his master's degree in business administration at Columbia University when his draft board on Long Island tried to induct him. "They were good about it, though," Jack Farley said. "They let me finish school and I "volunteered.' It was what was known as an "encouraged enlistment.'"
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HeroVet: Jim Manley, Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation
When he reflects on his life, Jim Manley is proud – of his family; of his prowess at football; of his service to Corps and country. His family is a constant. His abilities on the gridiron, when he starred for both St. John's High School in Pittston, Pennsylvania, and the University of Pennsylvania, is a fond memory. His service to the Corps, like family, is a lifelong proposition.
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HeroVet: Bob Peragallo, Survivor of 'Lost Patrol' Finds Clarity, Healing with 'Vets With A Mission'
Growing up in Sacramento, California, Bob Peragallo always knew he wanted to be a soldier. When he was 17, he began to fulfil that ambition. He was oblivious to the adage, Be careful what you wish for, for you may actually get it. His eighteenth birthday, in 1965, found him on a ship bound for Vietnam, a boy about to endure a 13-month baptism by fire on a tortuous path to becoming a man. His tour in Vietnam with the 1
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HeroVet: Ed McSorley, Vietnam Veteran
"As a child of the 50s and 60s, military service was an obligation and a right of passage," Ed McSorley told some 250 students attending a post-Memorial Day workshop last year at New Canaan (Connecticut) High School. To the young men and women living privileged lives to whom the youthful middle-aged veteran bared his soul, service in the military was something beyond the realm of their experience. For
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HeroVet: Michael Naranjo, Vietnam Veteran and Sculptor
He remembers, in exquisite detail, the last person he ever saw: the Viet Cong soldier who threw the grenade that took his sight, maimed his hand and threatened his dream of becoming an artist.
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HeroVet: Paul W. Bucha, Army Brat
He was an Army brat, a competitive swimmer, a graduate of both West Point and Stanford, an infantry captain. He arrived in Vietnam in November 1967 commanding D Company -- the “Clerks and Jerks,” they were called -- the last company formed when the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division adopted a four-rifle company configuration.