I’ve been told a donation box has been set up in front of the West Point PX, accepting supplies for the four families displaced by yesterday’s fire at a faculty housing complex on the U.S. Military Academy’s campus. (No one was hurt.)

Among other things, the families need toiletries, cleaning supplies, diapers, baby wipes, gift [...]

Update: Looks like the bill wasn’t voted on after all, either because Democrats are concerned about attaching the bill to the emergency war-spending plan, or maybe because President Bush has threatened to veto it. Let’s see where this goes… I’ve edited the headline and the original post to reflect the updated information.

Members of the Iraq [...]

Former ABC news anchor Bob Woodruff and his wife Lee (shown here at their talk at Rye High School last month) were among the recipients of the 2008 Niarchos Survivorship Prizes yesterday in a ceremony at Chelsea Piers in New York City. The Rye residents, co-authors of “In An Instant,” were honored for working with [...]

Veterans who served in combat, from World War II to the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, will read some of their poetry next Monday, May 12, at the Over the Rainbow cafe in Nyack. The readings will be from Post Traumatic Press 2007, an anthology by veterans who participated in a writing workshop in [...]

My colleague Gerald McKinstry has a story in today’s Journal News about

For this week’s podcast, I checked in with Howard Goldin, a Vietnam veteran and Spring Valley Rotary Club member who helped organize the humanitarian trip to Vietnam that my father and I joined up with last November.

Howard just got back from another return to Vietnam – his fourth time in the last three years – [...]

May 1 is Silver Star Day, an occasion to honor wounded and ill veterans and to kick off Military Appreciation Month.

The Silver Star Families of America, an organization honoring wounded veterans, reports it has received proclamations from 44 states (including New York), Washington D.C. and more than 80 cities observing Silver Star Day today. According [...]

Is it just me, or have there been a lot of Korean War and World War II veterans getting medals lately, decades after their meritorious service?

We have a story about one in today’s Journal News: Ed Peterson, a Navy veteran who was awarded the Purple Heart yesterday, 64 years after losing much of his hearing [...]

Rockland County has launched Vets FAVOR (Find and Assist Veterans of Rockland) today, a program that offers veterans discounts for more than 100 local businesses – ranging from auto repair to restaurants – and for legal consultations from the Rockland County Bar Association.

The program has been organized by County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef, County Clerk [...]

April 30 marks the 33rd anniversary of the Fall of Saigon – the end of the Vietnam War, in which more than 58,000 American troops and several million Vietnamese were killed. Here’s the iconic UPI photo of the frantic 1975 evacuation of American officials and South Vietnamese civilians onto a CIA helicopter; many Americans born [...]

For this Friday’s At Ease! podcast, I interviewed Jim Murphy, an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam. We sat down together in his South Nyack home yesterday, where he talked about his involvement in the Post Traumatic Press Writing Workshop for War Veterans and read one of the poems he wrote during last [...]

For you musical/military types out there, here’s some news of note: the Airmen of Note, the U.S. Air Force’s jazz ensemble, will perform at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester.

The venue, located at 149 Westchester Ave., can hold up to 2,000 people, according to owner Marvin Ravikoff, who added that several [...]

If you’re a combat veteran living with a non-veteran spouse/significant other, maybe you can help an Ossining High School student with her science project.

Ilana Rice, an OHS junior and member of the school’s Fundamentals of Science Research Program, is working on a project she hopes will lead to better methods of treating post-traumatic stress disorder [...]

I’m sitting in my car on Mamaroneck Avenue, where a  new U.S. Army Recruiting Station is NOT opening today. Just called the U.S. Army New York City Recruiting Battalion’s main number, and was told there has been some kind of hold up, and the station will probably open next month instead.

Sorry for the confusion, dear [...]

Rye High School students have a better sense of ancient (to them!) history now, thanks to a recent visit from local World War II veteran Jack Vier.

As I wrote in my story last week, Vier may be 90 years old, but he still sounds like a hell-raising young soldier.

His annual visit to Rye High [...]