Canadian Veteran's dying wish, to step it with wife of 70 years!

Wife of ailing WWII veteran denied bed at Camp Hill

The Chronicle Herald Canada
Andrew Rankin
December 1, 2018
“I’m 97 years old and I’m only getting a few days here and there to see my wife,” said Vaughan. “This could go on until I die. Not a very nice thing to think about.”

The pair have been married for 70 years

Second World War veteran David Vaughan says he’s disappointed that his wife of 70 years is not allowed to live with him at Camp Hill Veterans Memorial Hospital in Halifax. - Andrew Rankin

David Vaughan is nearing 100 years of age and the Second World War veteran wishes he could spend whatever time he has left with his wife Cecilia.

“I miss her a lot,” said Vaughan as he lay in bed at Camp Hill Veterans Memorial Hospital in Halifax Monday evening. “She’s from Cape Breton, a wonderful girl. My best friend.”

The 97 year old, who served as a tank operator during the Italian campaign, found out from hospital staff this week that his 92-year-old wife Cecilia isn’t allowed to move in to the 175-bed long-term care facility.

Veterans Affairs confirmed this on Friday, saying all but 22 of the beds there are currently occupied by Canadian veterans. The Nova Scotia Health Authority pays a fee to the department for those beds. They’re occupied by regular civilians discharged from hospital and awaiting long-term care outside of Camp Hill.

Still, the facility currently boasts 28 vacant rooms.
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Vice Admiral Scott Stearney passed away

update

Vice Adm. Scott Stearney, who oversaw U.S. naval forces in the Middle East, was found dead Saturday in his residence in Bahrain, officials said. Defense officials told CBS News they are calling it an "apparent suicide." CBS News

Navy admiral Scott Stearney found dead in Bahrain, no foul play suspected

NBC News
By Courtney Kube and Phil Helsel
Dec. 1, 2018

Vice Adm. Scott Stearney, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces, speaks on the 1MC shipboard intercom to welcome the crew of the guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham to Manama, Bahrain, on Oct. 24, 2018.Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan / USS Jason Dunham (DDG109)

The Navy admiral in charge of the military branch’s operations in the Middle East was found dead in Bahrain on Saturday, the Navy said.

Vice Admiral Scott Stearney was found dead in his residence in Bahrain Saturday and no foul play is suspected, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson said in a statement. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Bahraini Ministry of Interior are cooperating on the investigation.

Stearney took over as commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the Combined Maritime Forces in May, where he commanded more than 20,000 U.S. and coalition sailors, Marines, Coastguardsmen, and civilians. Stearney served 36 years in the Navy.
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Fatal crash killed Iraq veteran, son and father

10-year-old boy, teacher, Iraq vet killed in 'very tragic' crash

LMT Online
HTV National Desk
November 30, 2018

Three members of the same family were killed in a single-vehicle crash on a rural Ohio road Wednesday night.

Investigators said an SUV careened off a road in Brown County and slammed into a tree, without leaving a skid mark. Everyone inside the vehicle was killed.

“It was the last thing on my mind that anything like that would ever happen,” said Rob Moler, who is related to all of the victims.

His father, Robert Moler, 83, was killed in the crash. He was a teacher and basketball coach at Bethel Tate High School. He retired after nearly a half-century at the school.

“Anywhere he went, they always knew dad,” Rob Moler said.

Also killed was Robert’s great-grandson, 10-year-old Cameron Moler. He was a student at Kilgore School in Mt. Lookout.

Cameron’s father, Nick Moler, was driving. He had been in the National Guard and served a tour in Iraq.

“Even one is terrible, but when you have three members of the same family, it’s very tragic,” said Ohio State Police Patrol Sgt. Shannon Utter.
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Marine got apology from publisher for choosing wrong adventure

A Marine's Reaction to a Children's Book Prompts an Apology From the Publisher

New York Times
C. J. Chivers
November 30, 2018

In an article for the Times, a former Marine criticized a “choose your own adventure” children’s book set in Afghanistan. A week later, the book’s publisher wrote to him with an apology.

“The choose-your-adventure format,” he wrote, “felt breezy and cavalier, recklessly presenting a bloody contest between the Taliban and the Marines in a manner largely devoid of consequences. I know what the book did not say. My friends and I killed in Marjah, and Marines in my rifle company lost limbs and lives. No notional exercise in choice will erase the fact that both my battalion and the battalion to our north killed many civilians in the opening days of Operation Moshtarak, when American high-explosive rockets struck occupied Afghan homes. Then, in the end, American plans for the area failed. Today Marjah is again under of the control of the Taliban and warlords.”

At War is a newsletter about the experiences and costs of war with stories from Times reporters and outside voices.

Earlier this month, Zachary Bell, a former Marine rifleman and infantry squad leader, received an unsolicited email from the head of Capstone, a publisher of children’s books in Minnesota.

The New York Times Magazine had just published Bell’s first article for the At War channel, in which he had detailed his reaction this summer to observing his two daughters, ages 8 and 10, reading “War in Afghanistan: An Interactive Modern History Adventure,” a book in Capstone’s You Choose series. The book included a chapter on an operation in 2010 in Marjah, a Taliban stronghold in Helmand Province, in which Bell participated. He watched and listened as they confronted the text’s notional choices, including how to navigate the perilous landscape and whether to fire upon Afghan men who might be snipers — at risk of committing a war crime.
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VA Help Desk Closing in Washington

Veterans Benefits Administration to close office’s help desk

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NOVEMBER 30, 2018

The administration estimates the help desk assisted an average of 180 veterans each month with benefit-related queries.

BREMERTON, WASH.
The Veterans Benefits Administration is shutting down a help desk inside its Bremerton office that's staffed with employees who assist veterans with benefit-related queries.

The Kitsap Sun reports the office, as of Friday, will no longer be a place where veterans can receive in-person assistance with navigating through the Department of Veterans Affairs' pension and compensation system.

A statement from the Veterans Benefits Administration says its decision to downsize operations at the office "was made in line with the Agency's goal to be strong fiscal stewards of the taxpayer funds entrusted to us."
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