By now, I’m sure most of you have heard about the case of five families who have not only lost loved ones in Afghanistan, but are also being denied survivor’s benefits that would allow them to meet their loved ones as their remains are brought home at Dover Air Force Base.  Normally, the Department of Defense issues $100,000.00 to the families of service members who are killed, which allows them to keep home and hearth together while they take care of bringing their fallen home, taking care of funeral expenses, and waiting for the rest of their benefits to come on-line.   Unfortunately, the DoD has decided that, even though Congress and the President approved legislation that would allow it to do so, it will not be making these payments until the budget impasse is over.  For military families, not having these benefits means weeks spent worrying about bills, groceries, and travel and funeral expenses while paperwork for life insurance wends its way through the system.

My opinion on this is that it’s either a boneheaded decision that they now don’t feel they can back down from or it’s part a concerted effort to make the shutdown hurt the most vulnerable.  In either case, all it would take is a phone call from President Obama to Defense Secretary Hagel to get this taken care of.  Since it’s still happening, I’m guessing that such a phone call hasn’t happened.

In the mean time, good people are stepping up and filling the gap.  Fisher House, which runs a series of ‘houses’ near military and VA medical centers world-wide for service members and their families, has offered to cover the payments to the families of service members who have died since the shutdown began.  Rather than wait for Uncle Sugar to do what he has promised to do, this private organization is doing the right thing.  Fisher House has done right by my family in the past, and their support has been instrumental in the care and well being of our wounded warriors and their families for decades.

So far, that puts the charity on the hook for half a million dollars, which I’m sure wasn’t planned for.  If you’ve got a little extra, please consider heading over to their website and making a donation.  If they’re doing what needs to be done, they deserve our support.

The President of the United States
in the name of The Congress
takes pleasure in presenting the

Medal of Honor

to

ORESKO, NICHOLAS

Rank and organization: Master Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company C, 302d Infantry, 94th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Tettington, Germany, 23 January 1945. Entered service at: Bayonne, N.J. Birth: Bayonne, N.J. G.O. No.: 95, 30 October 1945.

Citation:

M/Sgt. Oresko was a platoon leader with Company C, in an attack against strong enemy positions. Deadly automatic fire from the flanks pinned down his unit. Realizing that a machinegun in a nearby bunker must be eliminated, he swiftly worked ahead alone, braving bullets which struck about him, until close enough to throw a grenade into the German position. He rushed the bunker and, with pointblank rifle fire, killed all the hostile occupants who survived the grenade blast. Another machinegun opened up on him, knocking him down and seriously wounding him in the hip. Refusing to withdraw from the battle, he placed himself at the head of his platoon to continue the assault. As withering machinegun and rifle fire swept the area, he struck out alone in advance of his men to a second bunker. With a grenade, he crippled the dug-in machinegun defending this position and then wiped out the troops manning it with his rifle, completing his second self-imposed, 1-man attack. Although weak from loss of blood, he refused to be evacuated until assured the mission was successfully accomplished. Through quick thinking, indomitable courage, and unswerving devotion to the attack in the face of bitter resistance and while wounded, M /Sgt. Oresko killed 12 Germans, prevented a delay in the assault, and made it possible for Company C to obtain its objective with minimum casualties.

 

Nicholas Oresko died yesterday.  He joins a growing number of our World War II veterans who are passing from this world to the next.  Our nation was made better by his presence and that of his comrades. It is our responsibility to earn what they have given us and to make it even better.