Okinawa, Leyte, Normandy, Anzio . . . Inchon, Heartbreak Ridge . . . Gulf of Tonkin, Ia Drang Valley, Fallujah. Members of the American Armed Forces were there, as well as hundreds of other places just like them. Brave American men and women were committed to preserving American freedom and honor no matter what the personal cost. Lives were risked and many times lost. Those that came home were forever changed.
OVER 635,000 MEN AND WOMEN HAVE DIED IN THE WARS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, INCLUDING 98,000 WHO DIED IN PRISON CAMPS. AN ESTIMATED 12,700 PERSONS REMAIN CLASSIFIED AS MISSING IN ACTION.
The surviving 26 million veterans of our nation include over 100,000 who were prisoners of war and 3 million who were disabled while in the service. As the products of direct and deliberate actions of our government, these 2.2 million service disabled veterans are entitled to unique indemnification.
No matter where our Veterans served, when they served, or how they served; they unselfishly committed their lives to preserving the security and prosperity of all Americans. In turn, fellow citizens have wholeheartedly committed themselves to providing our Veterans with the security and peace of mind they have earned.
Surveys of rehabilitation facilities and human resource programs indicate that a valuable source of intellect and skill resides in the nation's physically disabled veteran population. Much of this skill and proficiency was developed by the superb training received during active military service.
It is obvious that the government cannot restore the health of the nation's service disabled veterans, but it can assist them in their struggle to maintain their rehabilitation and to participate in the economic system for which they have so greatly sacrificed and in which the people of the United States consistently benefit.
In one area of opportunity, access to participation in the nation's economic system through business ownership and gainful employment, the service disabled and prisoner of war veterans of the United States have been victims of discrimination.
If the government and the profiting institutions of this nation are unwilling to support participation in the economic system for veterans who sacrificed for its perpetuation, then it is unlikely that the system will have the support of its future citizens.
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"Veterans have been obligated to drop their own affairs and take up the burdens of the nation, subjecting themselves to the mental and physical hazards as well as the economic and family detriments which are unique to military service and which do not exist in normal civil life."
"Our country has a long-standing policy of compensating veterans for their past contributions by providing them with numerous advantages. This policy has always been deemed legitimate."
(Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Renquist--in a decision reaffirming the special rights of veterans, May 1983)
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Written by John Lopez
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