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KOKOMO VETERAN AWARDED
PURPLE HEART MEDAL
Former TSgt
George R Ormsby USAAF, was presented the Purple Heart Medal at an Awards
Ceremony February 2, 2003 by Colonel James Melin, Commander of the 434 Air
Refueling Wing, Grissom Air Reserve Base.
Mr.
Ormsby was a waist gunner on a B-17G “Flying Fortress” Heavy Bomber assigned to
the 603rd Bombardment Squadron, 398th Bombardment Group
(H) 8th Air Force. He was credited with twenty-eight (28) combat missions. On
15 March 1945 on
a mission “Target
Oranieburg,
Germany”
his aircraft was shot down. He bailed
out of the burning aircraft, injuring the back of his neck, right shoulder and
elbow when he struck the side of the escape hatch. While landing in a Pine forest he also
injured his back and groin. He was
eventually captured and held as a POW.
Mr.
Ormsby has also been awarded the following decorations: The Air medal W/3OLC, Prisoner Of War (POW)
Medal, American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, American Defense
Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (EAME) W/2 bronze
stars, and Good Conduct Medal, in
addition to the Purple Heart Medal.
Personnel
from the 434 Mission Support Group, family members and friends were present to
celebrate the event with Mr. Ormsby
REMISSION
OF FEES PROGRAM AND NEW RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTS
The Remission of Fees Program
for college/university tuition and mandatory fees for the eligible dependant children
of Indiana disabled wartime veterans, was designed to benefit Indiana veterans
that had served during a period of war and had either been rated for a service
connected disability through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the
U.S. Department of Defense or had been issued the Purple Heart Medal for wounds
received in action against the enemy. It
is now necessary to require that these veterans have/had lived in
Indiana for Thirty Six (36)
Consecutive months at some period of their lives. Please contact the Howard County Veteran
Service Office for information regarding this program.
APPLICATION FOR DELAYED
HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA
WORLD WAR I AND WORLD WAR II
VETERANS
A new state law which took
effect July 1st 2002 provides that any veteran who dropped out of
high school (in the state of Indiana) to join the armed forces during World War
I or II is eligible to receive a high school diploma
from the State of Indiana. This applies whether the veteran was student
in a public or private high school so long as the student was a “student in
good standing” to the satisfaction of the Indiana Department of Veterans
Affairs. The veteran may be living or
deceased and the diploma may be issued from either the school the veteran
attended, if the school no longer exists the diploma may be issued from the
school corporation
Veterans
History Project
There are 19 million war veterans living in the
United States today, every day we lose 1,500
of them. Motivated by the need to
collect the stories and experiences of war veterans while they are still among
us the United States Congress created the Veterans History Project (VHP). The
American
Folklife
Center at the Library of Congress was
called upon to collect and preserve audio and Video-taped oral histories, along
with documentary materials such as letters, diaries, maps, photographs, and
home movies, of
America’s war veterans and those who
served in support of them.
The VHP covers WW I, WW II, the Korean,
Vietnam, and
Persian Gulf Wars. It includes all participants of those
wars-men and women, civilian and military.
It documents the contributions of civilian volunteers, support staff,
and war industry workers as well as the experiences of military personnel from
all ranks and branches of service-the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, and Navy
as well as the U.S. Coast guard and Merchant Marine.
U.S. senator Richard G. Lugar has
partnered with the Library of Congress to help preserve the oral histories of
Indiana veterans. The program will ensure that these valuable
stories are preserved for future generations to use and experience.
If you are a veteran or know a veteran who would like to
participate in this program, please contact the Howard County Veteran Service
Office AC 765 456-2511 or MS Emmy Huffman at Senator Lugar’s Indianapolis
office at AC 317 226-5555 or
vetproject@lugar.senate.gov .
NEW PRIORITY GROUP FOR VA HEALTH CARE
SERVICES
Some veterans in
high cost-of-living areas receiving treatment at VA hospitals will have their
inpatient co-payments reduced by 80%, effective retroactively to
October 1, 2002.
The VA Health-care Programs Enhancement Act, signed into law on January
2002, required VA to create a new category of Veterans that takes into
consideration the high cost of living in many parts of the
United States. Under the new system, VA will use two
priority groups -- Priority Group 7 and Priority Group 8 -- to replace the
current Priority Group 7. The redefined
Priority Group 7 will consist of veterans who have no service connected
disability rating or who are officially categorized as "non-compensable 0%
service-connected." Veterans in the new Priority 7 group must have incomes
that exceed VA's national income threshold ($24,644 for a single veteran,
$29,576 for a married veteran, plus $1653 added for each dependent child) but
are below geographically based income thresholds set by the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for public housing benefits. HUD determines its income thresholds based
upon the costs of living within various zip codes. Veterans in the new Priority Group 7 will pay
only 20 percent of the current hospital co-payments. For 2003, the inpatient medical care
co-payment is $840 for the first 90 days of hospital care and $420 for each 90
days thereafter for the remainder of a 365-day period plus an additional $10
per day charge. There is no reduction in
co-payments for outpatient care or pharmaceuticals. All other veterans who were previously in Priority
Group 7 will be in the new Priority Group 8. Priority 8 veterans will still
have to pay the full inpatient co-payment charge.
REPUBLIC OF
FRANCE
D DAY LIBERATION OF
FRANCE
THANK YOU TO
AMERICA
Indiana
Veterans of World War II who participated in the D-Day landing in
Normandy,
France or in the Liberation of France
are being honored by the presentation of a Certificate presented by the French
government in special programs throughout the state during this year 2003. The certificates will be presented during a
moving ceremony by the Consul General of France, Chicago Embassy or his
representative, individually to each veteran who attends the program. Over 500 certificates were presented during
three (3) presentations in 2002.The programs sponsored and
arranged by the Indiana Veterans’ Service Officers Association, (a group
comprised of Indiana’s 91 county Veterans’ Service Officers) will be con-ducted
at three (3) locations in Indiana in 2003,
Evansville in late April or early may 2003, Logansport on July 19th
2003 and the third at Corydon in October.
Exact dates will be announced later.Veterans in this region comprised
of the following counties Adams, Allen, Benton, Blackford, Carroll, Cass, DeKalb, Elkhart, Fulton, Grant, HOWARD, Huntington, Jasper, Jay,
Kosciusko, LaGrange, Lake, LaPorte, Marshall, Miami, Newton, Noble, Porter,
Pulaski, St. Joseph, Starke, Stuben, Wabash, Wells, White, and Whitley; who
have not yet submitted their application for the certificate should contact the
County Veteran Service Office in their county.
In
Howard County call 765 456-2511. Applications must be submitted not
later than
July 1st, 2003.
The presentation in
Logansport,
Indiana will be at All Saints Catholic
Church, downtown
Logansport, on
Saturday July 19, 2003 1:00 pm until 3:00 pm.
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