A Veteran’s Story

Korean War Veteran and Purple Heart recipient Don Van Elzen finds happiness in eating apples, spending time with family and serving his country.

Rae Mary Leff served for 14 years in the Navy as a nurse, learning much about life while treating servicemen in Vietnam.

Gary Gordon was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for actions performed during the Battle of Mogadishu, which was portrayed in Black Hawk Down.

Marine Corps Veteran Daniel Dunn used music and art therapy to subdue his anger and pain at the National Veterans Creative Arts Competition & Festival.

Vern Buol, a WW II Veteran who served in the Army Air Corps, later became a pro scout for the Chicago Bears, one of the most storied teams in the NFL.

Claire Lee Chennault, a U.S. major general who commanded the U.S. Army Air Forces in China during World War II, led the First American Volunteer Group, AKA the “Flying Tigers.”

Ira Hayes was a Pima Indian Marine and one of the last surviving members of the Iwo Jima flag raising in World War II.

Track star Louis Zamperini served in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II and suffered as a prisoner of war in Japan under the “The Bird.”

World War II Veteran Donald W. Applegate is the recipient of both the Distinguished Service Cross and the Silver Star for his actions in the European theater

Radio operator and Merchant Marine James Alvin Jolly served for six years in the maritime theater of World War II where he frequently encountered German submarines.

Army Veteran Michael Durant, a Veteran of the Gulf War, was shot down and taken prisoner during the Battle of Mogadishu in southern Somalia in 1993.