Fort Hood Soldier Found Dead in Barracks

FORT HOOD SOLDIER FROM MAYWOOD, ILL., FOUND DEAD IN BARRACKS
ABC 7 News Chicago
Associated Press
August 22, 2016

FORT HOOD, Texas -- Officials are still investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a Fort Hood soldier from Illinois.

Spc. Dion Shannon Servant, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division,

(Fort Hood Press Center)

Spc. Dion Shannon Servant was found unresponsive in his barracks room at the Texas military base on Aug. 19.

The 24-year-old entered active-duty service in June 2014 as a petroleum supply specialist. He was assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, since December 2014.
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Suspected Drunk Driver Killed Female Iraq Homeless Veteran in Wheelchair

SUSPECTED DRUNK DRIVER KILLS HOMELESS VETERAN
WGMT News
August 23, 2016

Elaine Heyl stopped by an outreach center in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood on Friday and gave photos and her family’s address in the South to one of the staffers there.

“She gave me two pictures … and she gave me her family’s address in South Carolina and said, ‘If I were to die at any point, this is where you send my information,'” Elvis Rosado, of Prevention Point Philadelphia recalled Monday.

Rosado never imagined he’d have to mail the package so soon.

Hours later, early Saturday morning, as Heyl sat in her wheelchair at Mascher Street and Lehigh Avenue — the corner where the woman, a homeless Iraq War veteran, was a permanent fixture for years — a man police say was driving drunk down Lehigh Avenue crashed into her.

Heyl, known as Lanie to most, died a short time later at the hospital. She was 37.

Rosado said he knew Heyl, an Air Force veteran who he said served in Iraq, from working at Prevention Point on Kensington Avenue, a center that provides a health clinic and other outreach services to people facing homelessness and addiction. He said she battled post-traumatic stress disorder and was never able to get the help she needed.

“She was trying really hard to get help, but unfortunately, the system is kind of slow, so she started to self-medicate,” Rosado said. “Unfortunately, self-medication turned to addiction.”
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Veterans Home Flooded, Hearts Flooded With Loving Response

Veterans forced to relocate during the flood
KSLA News
By Kevin Frey, Reporter
Monday, August 22nd 2016

"My heart is just so full, I don't know what to say -- but thank you all so much," said Ethel Comeaux to the volunteers. "There is people who care, people do care. This is the evidence of what people do for you."

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - A handful of veterans in Baton Rouge were forced to relocate after the storm left their home flooded.

The owners of the Magnolia Care Center on Florida Boulevard are now working to get their veteran's home back up and running after it took on approximately 5 feet of water. The flood left a destructive path at the center, causing floor tiles to crack, walls to become waterlogged, and mold to grow.

Byron and Ethel Comeaux have owned the center for the last 15 years. Never once has it flooded.

The facility serves as a home to around 10 veterans. All of them suffer from either bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As a result, they need constant and intensive care.

"It's very, very hard for changes to happen to them -- so when you have a change, they don't understand the change," said Byron Comeaux, who is himself an army veteran.

Last week, however, one of those changes came in the blink of an eye as the waters rose around the facility.

"It was coming fast. I told Mr. Comeaux, if we waited 20 minutes, we would not have been able to leave," said Donald Crochet, a resident of the facility.

The residents were relocated to a home in north Baton Rouge. Many of the residents are counting down the days until they can go back home to Florida Boulevard.
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MOH: Marine Jumped on 2 Grenades But Only Received Navy Cross?

Medal of Honor being sought for Lebanon Marine
The Lebanon Reporter
By Rod Rose
Aug 20, 2016

“He jumped on a hand grenade: It turned out to be a dud,” Regan said. Soon a second grenade landed among the Marines. Bogan jumped on that grenade, which exploded beneath him.

Navy Cross Presentation: Marine Cpl. Richard E. Bogan (right) received the Navy Cross in a 1968 ceremony

Richard E. Bogan was a U.S. Marine Corps private first class, when he received the Navy Cross after jumping on a hand grenade in what was then the Republic of South Korea’s Thua Thien Province. The Navy Cross is the second-highest decoration for heroism awarded by the U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps. It is presented only for extraordinary valor in combat.

Bogan, a 1967 graduate of Lebanon High School, was 41 when he died in a single-car crash in December 1990.

Now, Gerry Regan, a Marine who was there when Bogan jumped on that grenade, is working to have the Navy Cross award replaced — with the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military honor.

Regan is recently retired, but has been active in Marine Corps organizations since he was discharged from the Corps following his service in Vietnam. He is a former president of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines branch of the 1st Marine Division Association.

Nikki Baldwin, Bogan’s daughter, met Regan in 2008 at a Marine Corps reunion, she said recently. She is appreciative of Regan’s efforts to earn the Medal for her father.

She provided The Lebanon Reporter a copy of a letter that could be critical evidence in Regan’s efforts, as well as other documents about her father’s service.
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Judge Asked Iraq Veteran If He Killed Anybody?

Albany judge to Iraq war veteran: 'Did you kill anybody, as far as you know?'
New York Upstate
Douglas Dowty
August 22, 2016
Albany, NY -- An Albany judge agreed to resign this month after being accused of making improper comments from the bench, among other behavior.

Specifically, City Court Judge Thomas Keefe, 64, admitted in his resignation letter to "exceedingly poor" judgment in the case of Iraq war veteran Joseph Hayner.

Hayner was before Keefe in 2013 on a marijuana case. The veteran disputed a positive drug test, but the judge questioned his honesty. Keefe asked about Hayner's military record and discovered he had fought in Iraq, the New York Law Journal reported.

"Did you kill anybody, as far as you know?" the judge asked.

"I don't want to talk about that, sir," Hayner replied.

"Have you killed anybody here in Albany in the past week?" the judge asked.

"No," Hayner responded.

The judge told Hayner he could not smoke marijuana under an alternative sentenciung program and that he must tell the truth about any drug use, the Law Journal reported.
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