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"In the News"

  • VVA Applauds the Recognition of Four Women Veteran Trailblazers

“Vietnam Veterans of America commends the VA Center for Women Veterans for their recognition of the lifelong service, tenacity, and leadership of Lynda Van Devanter, Joan Furey, Dr. Linda Schwartz, and Diane Carlson Evans, by choosing them in the 2025 Women Veterans Trailblazers Initiative,” said VVA National President Jack McManus. 
“These women represent a large cohort of female Vietnam veterans who richly deserve this recognition,” McManus said. “They have emerged as trailblazers because their service to their country and fellow veterans reaches long past their time of active service during the Vietnam War. The story of each of these women is truly inspirational. They each embody courageous leadership and passionate advocacy for all veterans to which contemporary servicemembers owe a great debt.”

  • VA Chipping Away at Claims Backlog, Hopes to Process 2.5 Million Filings

As reported April 9 by Patricia Kime for Military Times, the Veterans Benefits Administration — the arm of the VA that adjudicates disability compensation claims — has processed more than 1 million filings this year and is on track to complete 2.5 million total by year's end, which is roughly a half-million more than it processed in 2024, according to officials. The department announced in late February it had reached the 1 million claims mark two weeks earlier than in 2024 despite receiving a 16 percent increase in applications last year. During a House Veterans Affairs subcommittee hearing Wednesday, VA officials said claims processors are running “8.5 percent ahead of this time last year,” largely because the department has improved training for adjudicators and is implementing new programs that facilitate the process. According to Kenneth Smith, the VA’s assistant deputy undersecretary for field operations, a new scheduling assistant program uses technology to determine whether an exam or additional medical opinion is necessary, which helps avoid unnecessary delays, and improvements to the Veterans Benefits Management System — the database that organizes and holds claims — will go into effect in 2026 and further reduce errors.

  • 50 Years Later, Vietnam’s Battlefields Draw Veterans and Other Tourists

In an April 10 story for the Associated Press, David Rising and Hau Dinh report that the battlefields of Vietnam are sites of pilgrimage for veterans from both sides who fought there, and tourists wanting to see firsthand where the war was waged. Hamburger Hill, Hue, the Ia Drang Valley, Khe Sanh… some remember the battles from the headlines of the 1960s and 1970s, others from movies and history books. And thousands of Americans and Vietnamese know them as the graveyards of loved ones who died fighting more than a half-century ago.

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