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LOCAL VETERANS ON MARCH AGAIN FOR JUSTICE.


Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
  • Dennis McCarthy (composer), (born 1945), an American composer
  • Dennis McCarthy (congressman), (19th century) Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1885
  • Dennis McCarthy MBE (radio presenter), British radio presenter
 

Patton's got to be spinning in his grave right about now. Ike and MacArthur, too.

It's a couple of days before Veterans Day 2001, and a few hundred of the men and women who served in World War II under these generals are on the phone talking about Sunday.

But they're not discussing where to meet for the parades and celebrations honoring them. They're talking about where to meet for the protest rally.

``Heck of a thing, isn't it?'' said Darion Dubois, a member of the Veterans Advisory Committee at the Sepulveda VA hospital.

``We should all be getting ready to march proudly in a Veterans Day parade through the Valley. Instead we're making protest placards trying to save our VA.''

What's wrong with that picture? Veterans protesting on Veterans Day against their own government cutting more staffers - 300 full-time positions - and services at the North Hills medical facility because of a $25 million budget shortfall.

Sepulveda - once one of the biggest and best VA facilities in the country - is already a shadow of its former self in the services it offers our vets in their twilight years.

At this rate, it's going to be a memory soon.

Patton would have blown a gasket over this slap in the face on Veterans Day to these older soldiers who fought with him in World War II.

Ike would be calling VA officials on the carpet and chewing chewing
 or mastication

Up-and-down and side-to-side movements of the lower jaw, using the teeth to grind food for easier swallowing. During chewing, the tongue shapes food into a lump and saliva lubricates it for swallowing.
 them out. Telling them to take the $25 million out of petty cash Petty Cash

The small amount of cash and coins that an organization uses for minor purchases and providing change to customers.

Notes:
Petty cash is typically used by merchandising companies or small stores that are required to make change for customer purchases.
, and give these vets the treatment and benefits we promised them more than 50 years ago when they saved the world's bacon.

MacArthur? Hell, MacArthur would be out there on the front line Sunday carrying a protest sign, ready to storm the gates.

This isn't the way it was supposed to be. This is a national shame.

Army nurse - 1943-47 - Mildred Novotny over in Northridge shouldn't have to be writing letters to VA officials, telling them there is no way an 88-year-old wheelchair-using veteran is in any condition to drive over the hill to the West Los Angeles
  • West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, a neighborhood of Los Angeles
  • West Los Angeles (region), a popularly identified region of Los Angeles, incorporating the neighborhood above
 VA facility for her treatment and care from now on.

Susan Williams Susan Rene Bartholomew-Williams (born June 17, 1969 in Long Beach, California) is a triathlete from the United States.

She competed at the second Olympic triathlon at the 2004 Summer Olympics. She placed third with a total time of 2:05:08.92.
 over in Van Nuys shouldn't have to feel like she's a burden on her country now - not after serving proudly for nine years in the Women's Army Corps Women's Army Corps: see WAC.
Women's Army Corps (WAC)

U.S. Army unit. It was established (as the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps) by Congress to enlist women for auxiliary noncombat duty in World War II. Its first head was Oveta C. Hobby.
.

``It's like the VA is saying we cost too much now,'' she said. She can't remember anyone being worried about the cost of veterans when the Nazis were knocking on the world's door.

Bill Rowland, who took a leg full of shrapnel shrapnel

Originally, a type of projectile invented by the British artillery officer Henry Shrapnel (1761–1842), containing small spherical bullets and an explosive charge to scatter the shot and fragments of the shell casing.
 in action in 1943, shouldn't have to beg - yeah, beg - Philip Thomas Philip Thomas may refer to:
  • Philip E. Thomas (1776–1861), American railway executive
  • Philip Francis Thomas (1810–1890), American legislator
  • Philip J. Thomas (1921–2007), Canadian folklorist
  • Philip Michael Thomas (born 1949), American actor
, director of the Greater Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850.  Healthcare System, not to close the local CARE unit at Sepulveda.

``We are proud of our service to our country, but we are reduced to asking for your help, no, begging for it,'' he wrote Thomas.

``Surely you can find some other way to save budget funds. Please find a solution that does not harm so many elderly, infirm INFIRM. Weak, feeble.
     2. When a witness is infirm to an extent likely to destroy his life, or to prevent his attendance at the trial, his testimony de bene esge may be taken at any age. 1 P. Will. 117; see Aged witness.; Going witness.
 and totally helpless veterans.''

The only response from Thomas so far is a memo promising ``a special town meeting in the next few weeks to address the questions and issues that I know you will have.''

The vets aren't holding their breath. They're marching.

Not in a Veterans Day parade where they should be, but in an 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. protest rally outside the gates of the North Hills VA - 16111 Plummer St. - they're trying to save.

This isn't the way it was supposed to be.

This is a national shame.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Daily News
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2001, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Publication:Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
Date:Nov 9, 2001
Words:604
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