NEW VETS HOME, A TOP PRIORITY
Written by Jan Hansen ~ Ransom County Gazette ~ October 15, 2007
“I applaud the VA’s decision to support North Dakota’s veterans by making
the new Veterans Home in Lisbon a priority,” Conrad stated in a Tuesday, October 9th
press release. “North Dakota’s veterans are deserving of the finest care our country can
provide. A new facility in Lisbon will go along way toward honoring their service.”
North Dakota’s federal legislators received verbal assurances from VA officials
earlier this summer that a new Vets Home would receive special consideration when
the agency laid out it's fiscal year priorities this fall. Moving funding for the home
to the top of the VA’s priority funding list is one of the final steps toward making the
new Vets Home a reality, Conrad explained.
Mr. Mark Johnson, NDVH administrator, stated in a phone interview on
Wednesday, October 10th, that he had received verbal notification on Friday
afternoon, October 5th, that the new Vets Home had been moved up to number 10 on
the VA’s priority list. “We are now awaiting written confirmation regarding the
approval of our grant application,’ stated Johnson. “As soon as that happens, the state
coffers will open up and we will be able to start the design process. We are looking
forward to finally being able to give the veterans the type of home they duly deserve.”
Updated 2/5/08
"THE WALL" - Now Online
March 27th, 2008 - From AP
Vietnam Memorial Wall Now Online
By DAN SCHERAGA, AP Business Writer
An interactive version debuts online this week, a project of historical document
archive site Footnote.com in conjunction with the National Archives and Records Administration.
The virtual version of the famous memorial - which is a pair of 246-foot black granite walls
inscribed with the names of more than 58,000 American military casualties - is searchable.
Every name etched onto the real-world wall is viewable online and linked to the veteran's service record.
Online visitors can add photos and describe their memories of the servicemen and women who died in the war.
Footnote.com Chief Executive Russ Wilding hopes the site will develop into an online community for veterans,
family and friends to pay tribute and share their thoughts.
"The memorial is a historical document
that obviously is very emotional," he says. "We want the site to help people come together to remember
the veterans who were lost." More than 2,000 photos were taken of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall
to create the online version, Wilding said. He said the resulting image is the equivalent of 460 feet wide
and the largest of its kind on the Web. Wednesday was the 26th anniversary of the groundbreaking for
construction of the wall, which was completed in November 1982 and officially became a National Monument two years later.
