Category Veterans Serving Veterans
Oorah! Marine Veteran Brings Calming Conversation to Fresno Home
It happens frequently when Samuel Tejeda strolls through the Veterans Home of California-Fresno. “One resident … every time he sees me, he yells ‘Oorah!’” said Tejeda. “He’ll see me in the hallway and yell it, and I’ll yell it back.” After all, that is the Marine battle cry or greeting, and once a Marine, always […]
WAC Vet Answered the Nation’s Call, Now Answers Veterans’ Questions at CalVet
One day during the early months of 2018, soon after she hired on as the office technician in CalVet’s Communications Division, U.S. Women’s Army Corps veteran Yulana Low handled a telephone call she will never forget. “The older brother of a young veteran couldn’t get over his brother’s death,” she said. “I believe he was […]
Navy, Army Guard Veteran Will Soon End A Storied Career at Yountville Home
Of the CalVet employees we’ve featured thus far in our Veterans Serving Veterans series, Jeffrey Thirnbeck exemplifies that day-to-day dedication as much as any. He’s worked for the past 31 years as a custodian at the Veterans Home of California-Yountville, including at Holderman Hospital, where he ensures the facility is clean and safe for the […]
From One Family to Another: Kinship During Deployment Set Stage for Veteran’s Future
Liz Hargrove-Washington’s world changed in an instant during the winter of 1996. As a young staff sergeant in the Air Force stationed at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, and the young mother of a baby girl, she received orders to deploy to Saudi Arabia. “It was one of the most challenging, difficult times of […]
Helping Other Veterans Comes up Roses for Nurse at Barstow Home
As a licensed vocational nurse (LVN) at the Veterans Home of California-Barstow, U.S. Army veteran Kimberly Malott has a passion for caring for the Home’s veteran residents and their spouses. She also has a passion for passing out roses—at the behest of a veteran resident who routinely bought them for the women at the Home. […]
Different Wars, Similar Stories of Service and Coming Home
After 17 years in the U.S. Army, Juan Griffin left with many stories to tell about his deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. There is no one he enjoys swapping stories with more, than the veterans who live at the Veterans Home of California-Barstow. “When they tell me about their deployment experiences, they’re the same as […]
The Trifecta: CalVet’s Rose Shows His Range in Helping California’s Veterans
How has U.S. Navy veteran Derek Rose served other veterans since coming to CalVet seven years ago? Let us count the ways. Rose served four years in the military which included a two-year assignment in Bahrain. He separated in 2011, and used his Post-9/11 GI Bill education benefits to earn his undergraduate degree from Sacramento […]
Seeing ‘Old Glory’ Adorning A Captured Enemy Ship Buoys Redding Doctor to Care for Other Veterans
In the pitch-blackness of a September night in 1987, the commander of an American cruiser in the Persian Gulf sounded general quarters. “He told us we were in the middle of an Iranian minefield,” said James Vogus—now chief physician and surgeon at the Veterans Home of California-Redding—a crew member that evening. “I wrote a letter […]
Fair Enough: CalVet Loan Agent Finally Gets to Meet Veteran Who Was Among His First Clients
Associate Property Agent Christopher Adriano displayed his business cards among the brochures and other materials while representing CalVet’s Home Loans Division at the California State Fair last month. A woman, donning a United States Forest Service shirt, stopped by the booth, read the card, and said, “Are you Chris? You did our home loan.” That […]
Barstow Chaplain Counts His Blessings as a Veteran Serving Veterans
As the Protestant chaplain at the Veterans Home of California—Barstow, U.S. Army veteran William T. Young sees serving veterans as his divine duty. “I joined the Army in 1983 to pay back my missionary ‘debt,’” Young said. He spent the next 32 years ministering to the spiritual needs of soldiers—from Fort Totten in New York; […]
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