VA secretary’s Memorial Day visit highlights fact-finding trip to Alaska

  • Published
  • By John Pennell
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki was the keynote speaker for Monday's Memorial Day ceremony at the Fort Richardson National Cemetery, where he spoke of the meaning of the day and his department's ongoing service to veterans. While in the state, Shinseki also toured the 673d Medical Group as well as Alaska's Interior with Alaska Senator Mark Begich to see firsthand the difficulties with providing VA services to the more remote and rural areas.

"One hundred and forty-six years ago, at the end of America's Civil War, the most devastating conflict in our nation's history, mothers and grandmothers...of the fallen, representing both blue and gray, gathered in cemeteries large and small to pray and to enshroud the graves of their loved ones with flowers," Shinseki said, explaining the holiday's genesis.

"From Hattiesburg, Miss., to Gettysburg, Pa., from the heartland to mountain top, these hushed, mournful visits by the bereaved were and all too common sight if you think back to what the Civil War represented to our country," he continued. "As history reflects, General Joshua Logan, the national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, was so moved by one such scene that he promoted the need for a day of national memorial observance.

"And so, on May 5, 1868, he proclaimed May 30 as a national day 'for the strewing of flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of our country,'" Shinseki said. "His General Order 11 reads: 'Let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us; a sacred charge upon a nation's gratitude, the Soldier's and Sailor's widow and orphan.

"Now consistent with General Logan's order, I would just offer to you that today two children of Civil War veterans are still alive, and are receiving survivor benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs," he continued. "That gives you some sense of the importance of presidential promises and the span of history that accompanies the Veterans Affairs responsibilities.

"My suggestion here is 100 years from now there'll be a future president, yet to be born, and a future secretary, yet to be appointed, who will be delivering on the promises that are being made today."

The secretary pointed out that the nation's more than 100 national cemeteries are another of his department's responsibilities.

"This year, as in years past and for years yet to come, the Department of Veterans Affairs greets, welcomes and embraces the thousands who gather in our 131 cemeteries to give thanks and remember on this day of remembrance," he said. "The quiet, ordered beauty of these places, so lovingly rendered by the men and women of the National Cemetery Administration, reflect both the cost of defending freedom and liberty, and the nation's unwavering gratitude for the sacrifice of its noblest citizens.

"From generation to generation across our history, Americans have answered the call to duty," he continued. "America as we know it would not exist today were it not for those who loved freedom and cherished liberty enough to fight for it. Our nation has been blessed with an abundance of such men and women who have allowed us to flourish as individuals, as a society and as a nation."

Shinseki returned to the Civil War roots of the holiday to explain the importance of honoring the nation's war dead.

"In his Gettysburg Address, President Lincoln spoke of America's obligation to repay our debt to those who died in service to our country," he explained. "In his words, 'It is for us the living to be dedicated to the unfinished work which they who fought have so nobly advanced. Dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead, we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.'

"This Memorial day 2011, let us all reflect on the more than 1 million Americans who have given such devotion in America's name, the more than 140,000 of our sons and daughters who endured captivity at the hands of the inhumane and despicable and those still missing, whose families bear the even greater burden of never really knowing," he said. "America's 22 million veterans and the Department of Veterans Affairs honor the service and sacrifice of all of our fallen, who have guaranteed our rights and secured our liberties."

While in the state, Shinseki also toured the 673d Medical Group as well as Alaska's Interior with Alaska Senator Mark Begich to see firsthand the difficulties with providing VA services to the more remote and rural areas.

"I'm proud to be here in Alaska," the secretary told local media before the Memorial Day ceremony. "I'm informed the state has 77,000 veterans - per capita 17 percent of the population of this state is veterans - and I think that's the highest of any state in the union.

"I'm going to be accompanying the senator to some of our more rural locations today, primarily to listen, to get some constructive feedback on what the VA does in terms of services and what we ought to be thinking about how to do better," he explained. "I'm here to listen to rural and Alaska Native veterans, including Alaska Territorial Guard members."

"One of my top priorities, one of the department's top priorities, is to increase access for all veterans, and especially the veterans who are most challenged," he continued. "Those usually have to do with Native people, but certainly veterans who live in rural and remote areas, which is certainly something you are not unfamiliar with here in Alaska.
He said access doesn't just mean building or expanding facilities.

"In rural areas, access means extending VA's reach into remote areas with telehealth technologies," Shinseki explained. "In the last two years, VA has spent about $284 million in those technologies, specifically to try to solve some of the rural and remote issues that Alaskans face.

"It also means respecting and reaching Alaska Natives who share a long and distinguished tradition of military service," he continued. "That's why we have created the Office of Tribal Government Relations, headed by Stephanie Birdwell, to make sure Native Americans and Alaskan Natives have a strong voice in the department.

"Expanding access means sticking to the principle that veterans deserve VA care and services - no matter where they live - whether it's in a remote area or in one of our urban environments," the secretary concluded. "My commitment to veterans is that we in VA must, and will, do a better job of reaching out to veterans."

Shinseki said he has three main priorities as VA secretary.

"One is the one I mentioned here and that's expanding access so that veterans who are entitled to care and benefits from the VA, No. 1, know about it, two, know how to acquire it, and three, get smoothly through the system," he said.

"The second goal is to end this disability claims backlog that's been around for years. It's frustrating to all of us," he continued. "We've put in place some key pilots that we expect by May of 2012 we're going to see the results of our investments ... and we'll begin to take down the backlog. Our intent is to eliminate the backlog by 2015."

Shinseki said the third priority is to end veterans' homelessness by 2015.

"A few years ago, I said in five years," he said. "Well, the clock's moved. So by 2015 we intend to have solved the issue of veterans' homelessness. As the president says, there's no reason in this great and powerful country -- wealthy country of ours -- why any veteran should be living homeless."

Also speaking at the Memorial Day ceremony, Begich pointed to the recent deaths in Afghanistan of three Soldiers from Fort Wainwright's 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th infantry Division, as the continuing sacrifice of military families, and recalled visiting the brigade before it deployed.

"When I visited the National Training Center at Fort Irwin in California, just prior to their departure for Afghanistan, it was clear to me that there was no finer, more professional fighting men and women in the world, and we should be proud of our Soldiers from Alaska as they serve this country and this nation," Begich said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with them, their units and their families."

Also at the ceremony was actor Jon Voight. The actor was in Anchorage filming his latest project, and decided to show his support for the military by attending.

After the ceremony he spent more than an hour talking with service members, veterans and family members, signing autographs and posing for pictures with anyone who had a camera.