Veterans

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.

A metal pole which once carried U.S. and Marine Corps flags over a military site in Lebanon will return to its proper vertical stance — but this time it will stand tall for veterans and the public to see in a special area at the William R. Gaines Jr. Veterans Memorial Park in Charlotte County.The pole was brought to the Gaines park on Wednesday but the route it took to get to the Charlotte County location was a long and tragic one.

From veterans of World War II and Vietnam to those who fought 21st century wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, supporters of the nonprofit Warrior Homes of Collier gathered Wednesday in East Naples for a courtyard dedication ceremony at its recently opened Delta House. The 20-bed, 10-unit apartment complex is the first of the organization’s four local residences to serve both male and female veterans.

On Wednesday, a group of “elves” from Florida Power and Light Company teamed up with the Florida National Guard to help make the holidays for a U.S. Army veteran in Port Charlotte and her five-year-old son a little brighter.

Arts Bonita honored veterans with a Big Band concert featuring the South Florida Jazz Orchestra and Lisanne Lyons, a former United States Air Force Band vocalist.

The memorial to veterans that is being dedicated Saturday at Ave Maria in Collier County is a collaborative effort.

A rising star in American politics urges his fellow veterans to get help with mental health if they need it.

Fish With a Hero, Inc. is a public charity and Florida not-for-profit corporation — each year, Fish With a Hero provides world class fishing experiences and sponsors programs designed to assist participants in dealing with the effects of PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and other disabilities and wounds of war.