Category History
Parachute that Brought Supplies to American Pows Now Dressing up Display at Redding Veterans Home
A yellow toddler’s dress might be the last thing you’d expect to find showcased at a veterans home. Photographs, medals, battlefield souvenirs, or old newspaper clippings? Sure. But a little yellow silk dress? Yet, there is displayed in the Hall of Honor deep inside the Veterans Homes of California-Redding, on loan from the family of […]
Happy Rebirth-Day to the United States Marine Corps, with Another Cake in November
Happy rebirth-day to the United States Marine Corps! Rebirth-day? Let us explain. The Marine Corps traditionally celebrates its birthday on November 10 each year, recognizing the decision by the Second Continental Congress in 1775 to establish two battalions of Marines. They were known then as the Continental Marines, because the United States was still in […]
He Signed His John Hancock Right There, on the Declaration of Independence
Granted, this was more prevalent in the days before electronic digital signatures, but you’ve probably heard the term at some point: “Sign your John Hancock right here!” As we celebrate the United States of America’s birthday, no signature on the Declaration of Independence – our first Hallmark moment – stands out bigger, bolder and with […]
COINCIDENTALLY, U.S. ARMY AND FLAG DAY SHARE JUNE 14 BIRTHDAYS
On the surface, it seems only fitting that June 14 represents both the United States Army’s birthday and Flag Day. After all, it’s difficult to envision one without the other. However, as compatible as they might be, pure coincidence offers the best explanation of why both are celebrated on June 14. Consider: On June 14, […]
FROM BORDER TO BORDER, COAST TO SIERRA, CALIFORNIANS HAVE A MONUMENTAL DEDICATION TO MEMORIAL DAY
Near the small community of Weed, just 25 miles from the Oregon border, the Living Gardens Sculpture Memorial stands with Mount Shasta as a spectacular backdrop. Dedicated in 1994, its Memorial Wall bears the names of those from Siskiyou County who died while defending our nation and its Constitution. Some 870 miles south and just […]
VIETNAM WAR VETERANS DAY: FOUR FRESNO VETERANS, FOUR DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES
One went to Vietnam as an advisor, years before American forces went en masse. One had the greatest peanut butter and jelly sandwich of his life while manning a gun mount on a destroyer in the Tonkin Gulf. One tended to Vietnam War wounded at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. And another spent […]
TIME CAPSULE BOX FOR NEW SKILLED NURSING FACILITY PROJECT IN BEST OF HANDS
YOUNTVILLE – On one recent afternoon, Gordon Kirby, with a steady hand and a thin saw blade, cut a notch in a thick piece of deodor cedar destined to become a footstool or small bench. The 75-year-old Navy veteran spends his days in the woodshop of the Creative Arts Center at the Veterans Home of […]
TWO WOMEN VETERAN INNOVATORS LEFT THEIR MARKS ON YOUNTVILLE VETERANS HOME
As construction begins in earnest on the new $269 million skilled nursing facility at the Veterans Home of California-Yountville, CalVet recognizes and remembers two remarkable women who left their imprints on the 138-year-old campus. Mary Dunaway helped it grow in the 1950s. Virginia Mae Days, the only woman to lead the California Department of Veterans […]
SEABEES BUILDING BASES, ROADS, AIRSTRIPS, AND REPUTATION FOR PAST 80 YEARS
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor drew the United States officially into World War II, the Navy determined it would need to build bases, roads, and airstrips in combat zones – and at warp speed. But who would build them? Civilian contractors who built facilities at Wake Island were captured by Japanese soldiers 15 days […]
HOW DID YOU DO? GRADE YOURSELF ON CALVET’S PRESIDENTS DAY QUIZ
Yesterday, we offered our Presidents Day challenge: 10 questions to test your knowledge of U.S. presidents who served in some form of the military, from militias to decorated careers. Here are those questions again, with the answers:
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