ARMED FORCES DIGEST | Benefits seminar Wednesday

ARMED FORCES

VETERANS

Benefits seminar

New castle, pa.

The Lawrence County Veterans Affairs Department is offering a VA benefits seminar Wednesday from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Lawrence County Government Center, Commissioners Hearing Room, 430 Court St. Topics to be discussed are pensions, compensation claims, aid and attendance, burial benefits, how to get copies of DD-214 discharge papers, qualifying for the Emergency Assistance Program and enrolling at the Butler VA Medical Center.

POW/MIA vigil

MERCER, PA.

Mercer County’s annual Vigil for POWs/MIAs is from daybreak through late evening Saturday on the east side of the Mercer County Courthouse next to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

January marks the 38th anniversary of the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in 1973, which ended American ground-force involvement in Vietnam and provided for the exchange of prisoners of war and missing in action. However, some 2,000 Americans still are unaccounted for, said Wayne Stratos, vigil organizer.

There will be a brief ceremony at 7 p.m. at which the 94 names of Pennsylvania military personnel still missing in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia will be recited. The public is invited.

Main speakers for the vigil include Army (retired) Col. Gary Solander and American Legion, Department of Pennsylvania POW/MIA Committee Chairman Patrick Kelley.

DEPLOYED

Mercer graduate

Army Reserve Spec. Chad E. Richards has returned to Joint Base Dix-McGuire-Lakehurst, N.J., for debriefing, evaluations and out-processing procedures before returning to his regularly assigned Army Reserve or National Guard unit after a deployment to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom/New Dawn, or Afghanistan serving in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Richards, a motor-transport operator, is a member of the 304th Transportation Co. based in Springfield, Mass. He is a 1999 graduate of Mercer Junior-Senior High School, Mercer, Pa.

BASIC TRAINING GRADS

Air Force: Reserve Airman David B. Shankle Jr., honor graduate, (Springfield Local High School, New Middletown, ’03), son of Jennifer Newell of Poland; Reserve Airman Dustin J. Dickinson (Crestview High School, Columbiana, ’10), son of Greg and Candie Dickinson of New Waterford; Airman Darren L. Sharp (Niles McKinley High School, ’10), son of Gheanine Weber of Niles, and Michael Sharp of Leetonia.

Army: Pvt. Shaun R. Gardner (West Branch High School, Beloit, ’10), son of Shannon Gardner of Salem.

Coast Guard: Seaman Seth W. Dumoulin (Crestview High School, Columbiana, ’09), son of Danielle F. Schmidt of Salem, and Jeff W. Dumoulin of Leetonia; Seaman Erik T. Birmingham (Springfield Local High School, New Middletown, ’09), son of Kathy L. and Brian D. Birmingham of New Springfield.

Navy: Seaman Recruit Cody A. Thompson (Brookfield High School, ’09), son of Barbara and Edward W. Thompson of Hubbard; Seaman Recruit Patrick A. Wise (Warren G. Harding High School, Warren, ’10), grandson of Edna D. Defoor of Warren.

Items of note for the Armed Forces Digest can be sent to The Vindicator, Regional Desk, P.O. Box 780, Youngstown 44501-0780, or e-mailed to alcorn@vindy.com