News, Events & Announcements

Current National News:

VFW 2008-2009 NATIONAL VOICE OF DEMOCRACY SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS

Kansas City, MO., April 7, 2009  (VFW.org, 2009)-- The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States and its Ladies Auxiliary sponsor the Voice of Democracy audio-essay scholarship competition. The program just finished its 62nd year and requires high school student entrants to write and record a three to five minute essay on an announced patriotic theme. “Service and Sacrifice by America’s Veterans Benefit Today’s Youth by …..” was the theme for 2008-2009. All national scholarships totaled $175,500, and all winners received at least a $2,000 college scholarship.

Natale Szabo, a senior at Medical Lake High School has been named the first place winner in the 2009 National Voice of Democracy Program and recipient of the $30,000 T.C. Selman Memorial Scholarship Award provided by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Natale plans a career as a Middle East news correspondent (broadcast communications) and was sponsored by VFW Post 3386 and its Ladies Auxiliary in Airway Heights, Washington.

Elizabeth Dickerson, a homeschooled sophomore, has been named the second place winner in the 2009 National Voice of Democracy Program and recipient of the $16,000 Charles Kuralt Memorial Scholarship Award provided by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Elizabeth plans a career as a librarian and was sponsored by VFW Post 6941 and its Ladies Auxiliary in Wellington, Ohio.

Jennifer Eckert, a senior at Mt. Desert Island High School has been named the third place winner in the 2009 National Voice of Democracy Program and recipient of the $10,000 VFW Scholarship Award provided by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Jennifer plans a career as a doctor and a writer and was sponsored by VFW Post 109 and its Ladies Auxiliary in Ellsworth, Maine.

Leandra Garcia, a sophomore at West Las Vegas High School has been named a winner in the 2009 National Voice of Democracy Program and recipient of the $2,000 Department of Kentucky and its Ladies Auxiliary Scholarship Award. Leandra plans a career as a flight medic and she was sponsored by VFW Post 1547 and its Ladies Auxiliary in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

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VFW Against VA Collection Increase Proposal

Washington, March 4, 2009 (VFW.org, 2009)- The national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. wants the Obama administration to kill a controversial budget proposal that would bill veterans with private health insurance for the care they receive for their service-connected disabilities and wounds.

"It is unconscionable to pass along the costs of war to wounded and disabled veterans," said the VFW's Glen M. Gardner Jr., a Vietnam veteran from Round Rock, Texas. "This is one policy proposal that the VFW will work hard to defeat because it breaks a sacred trust that veterans have with their government."

The administration proposed Thursday that the Department of Veterans Affairs would receive $55.9 billion in discretionary funding in fiscal year 2010, an amount that exceeds the current year budget by $5.5 billion.
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National Anthem Celebrates 78 Years, Thanks to VFW

Described as ‘a feat without parallel,’ VFW waged a little-known campaign to have the Star-Spangled Banner officially recognized as America’s national anthem.

By Herbert M. Mason
The VFW vigorously took on the fight to make The Star-Spangled Banner this country’s national anthem. In 1928, the U.S. was the only modern nation in the world without a sanctioned national ballad—a flagrant lapse VFW was determined to set right. It was Walter I. “Daddy” Joyce, director of the National Americanization Committee, who led the crusade.

The Star-Spangled Banner had been played and sung with varying degrees of success for some 100 years. The uplifting words came from Francis Scott Key, a 35-year-old lawyer who had watched from Chesapeake Bay, Md., the night the British bombarded Ft. McHenry in 1814.
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02/27/2009
VFW Hopes Supreme Court Saves Mojave Desert Veterans Memorial

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02/27/2009
Media Coverage at Dover a Family Decision

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02/24/2009
2009 VFW Mid-Winter Conference and National Council of Administration Meeting Wrap-Up

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