Veterans

This tiny county in Central Florida may be poor but it is rich with honor and patroitism

John Bohanek, a Pine Island army veteran, has spent three years in a trailer — two of those a FEMA trailer — with limited power and water after his home was destroyed by Hurricane Ian. He’s waiting for the final property assessment he needs to begin rebuilding, but that can’t happen until the government reopens.

In September, we introduced you to an outstanding service dog from Fort Myers. Now, we have some good news about him.

Donald, a Fort Myers guide dog, is in a national competition to win the title of Hero Dog from the American Humane Society.

A dental practice in Naples is offering free care for veterans for the second year in a row.

A new, free and on-demand transportation service is now in operation to help veterans easily reach medical appointments.Provided by Manatee County’s Veterans Services and Transportation divisions ‘Manatee Moves’ will directly connect county veterans to health providers by utilizing a rideshare service. Accessible through a smartphone app, Manatee Moves is open to all pre-registered veterans who can walk on their own, or who use an assistance device like a folding walker.

During her years as a military linguist, Bailey Williams pushed her body to extremes. Her new book is Hollow: A Memoir of My Body in the Marines.

For the past 15 years, the Diocese of Venice has hosted a Veterans Day ceremony to pay tribute to the fallen.

A park in Charlotte County designed to recognize and celebrate our veterans and first responders is named after William R. Gaines Jr., a Charlotte High School graduate and a young Marine who died in the bombing of the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 23, 1983.

OMAHA BEACH, France — Under their feet, the sands of Omaha Beach, and in their rheumy eyes, tears that inevitably flowed from being on the revered shoreline in Normandy, France, where so many American young men were cut down 80 years ago on D-Day.Veterans of World War II, many of them centenarians and likely returning to France for one last time, pilgrimaged Tuesday to what was the bloodiest of five Allied landing beaches on June 6, 1944. They remembered fallen friends. They relived horrors they experienced in combat. They blessed their good fortune for surviving. And they mourned those who paid the ultimate price.They also bore a message for generations behind them, who owe them so much: Don’t forget what we did.