During World War II, Native Americans played a key role in the war against the Axis. They confounded the enemy by using the Navajo language to send secret information from the front lines. The enemy could hear the messages, which they couldn’t decipher because the Navajo language was unfamiliar to them. Consequently, these “code talkers,” […]
How important was the Allied defeat of Japan that ended World War II in 1945? So important that V-J Day – V standing for Victory, J for Japan – is commemorated not once but twice in less than a month. The first – August 14 – is the day Japan admitted defeat by Allied forces, […]
By Gary Moore, CalVet REDDING – Nic Casella got help when he needed it most. He will repay the favor today. Soon after the 97-year-old Navy veteran returned from Chico to his home in Paradise on November 8, 2018, he saw an ominous cloud. Rain was not in the forecast. “I went to the sliding […]
August 7 is National Purple Heart Day, honoring the recipients of America’s oldest award for military merit. Created by General George Washington as the Badge of Merit in 1782, it was awarded for “any singularly meritorious action” in battle. That changed in 1931, when, at the behest of General Douglas MacArthur, the U.S. War Department […]
In times of war, the term “stand down” represents a break. A break from the fighting. A chance to eat a hot meal, to sleep on a cot instead of the ground, and maybe to get a shower. Some time to regroup, to decompress, and to rejuvenate before heading back into the fray. Some veterans […]
Lisa Peake believes that whether you are sent to Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, or anywhere else, attitude makes the difference between drudgery and doable. “If you say ‘this deployment is going to be horrible,’ it will,” said Peake, who retired from the California National Guard as a “full-bird colonel” in May, ending a 30-year career in […]
Navy veteran Jim Davis saw an ominous sky as he headed out to the woodwork shop at his home in Paradise one morning in November 2018. “A really strange cloud,” he said. Davis sensed immediately that it soon would be raining fire, not water. He packed up what he could, then quickly left his property. […]
What did we learn about a Meal Ready-to-Eat? That it can’t stump the experts, or at least not during CalVet’s 7th MRE Cooking Challenge at the California State Fair on Thursday. They turned the virtually indestructible and — to some in the military – indigestible field sustenance known as the Meal-Ready-to-Eat into works of culinary […]
When 49-year-old Julian Bond was recently appointed by Governor Newsom to run the Veterans Home of California-Ventura, CalVet got more than just an experienced administrator. It received a retired Army colonel from a family with a long, distinguished, and storied history of public service. His great-grandfather, James Bond, was born into slavery during the Civil […]
Don’t forget CalVet’s 7th Annual MRE Cooking Challenge Thursday, July 18, at the California State Fair! Come watch top area chefs and members of the military test their skills as they transform Meal-Ready-to-Eat military field rations into tantalizing triumphs. The event, a highlight of the State Fair’s Military and Veteran Appreciation Day, begins at noon […]
calvetconnect.blog 