Important Announcements

An important message (18 May 2020) from our National Commander:

Sept 25, 2019 - Proposed Changes to Eligibility for Burial at ANC

August 8, 2019 - Urgent Care Benefit

July 28, 2019 - You Are Covered!

September 18, 2018 Liver Fluke Cancer Study

From Disabled American Veterans (DAV):   On July 26, 2018, Representative Lee Zeldin (NY), introduced H.R. 6637, the Vietnam Veterans Liver Fluke Cancer Study Act.

This bill would direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in consultation with the Director of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention of the Department of Health and Human Services, to conduct an epidemiological study on the prevalence of cholangiocarcinoma in veterans of the Vietnam era.

Bile duct cancer (cholangiocarcinoma) is a cancer of the biliary duct system, which includes the gallbladder, bile ducts, and certain cells inside the liver. One risk factor for bile duct cancer is past infection with tiny parasitic worms called liver flukes, which are found in the fresh waters of Southeast Asia. Veterans who ate raw or undercooked freshwater fish during their service in Southeast Asia, such as Vietnam veterans, might have been infected. Once eaten, the liver flukes grow to adulthood inside the human biliary duct system. The irritation and scarring caused by liver fluke infection can lead to bile duct cancer. Currently, there are no available studies to show that bile duct cancer occurs more often in Vietnam veterans than in other groups.

In accordance with DAV Resolution No. 090, DAV strongly supports H.R. 6637 as it will help determine if this Vietnam veteran environmental exposure can be linked to bile duct cancer.

Please use this prepared electronic letter, or draft your own, to urge your Representative to support and cosponsor H.R. 6637. As always, we appreciate your support for DAV and your grassroots activism in participating in DAV CAN. Thank you for all you do for America's veterans and their families.

June 12, 2018 - Your Burial Benefits

I was at a funeral this afternoon, as part of the JWV "honor guard". The family insisted that the deceased was a veteran, and wanted to be buried in the Great Lakes National Cemetery (for Veterans only). But they still cannot find his discharge papers. So the Cemetery would not allow him to be buried there, yet. The family is still scrambling to find his paperwork. But the funeral home will only hold onto his body for so long.... Burial in a National Cemetery is only one of the many funeral benefits that veterans receive.
Veterans - Don't put your family in this position! Make copies of your DD-214 and give them to family members.
Children of Veterans - Don't wait until you are put in this position! Get a copy of your parent's DD-214 and file it away.

April 20, 2018 - Dingell VAMC Needs Helpers

The Dingell VA Medical Center in Downtown Detroit needs more "Red Coat" volunteers. The primary job of the Red Coats is customer relations. They do the morning inpatient new admission survey and interview outpatients to find out how the hospital is treating them. Red Coats also give directions when asked, provide wheelchairs to patients that need them, and do whatever comes up that provides non-medical assistance. Each volunteer works with the volunteer office to develop their own schedule, but once it's established the volunteer needs to let the volunteer office know when there will be a deviation.
Call the volunteer office at 313-576-3332, or go there to let them know that you want to volunteer.

January 21, 2018 - Where Is Your Discharge?

JWV Department of Michigan leadership would like to remind all members that they should provide a copy of their discharge papers (aka: DD214) to their chosen funeral home BEFORE they pass on, to ensure that they receive all of their V.A. death benefits when the time comes.

October 15, 2017 - Freedom Center

The Michigan Armed Forces Hospitality Centers is looking for volunteers to man the Freedom Center - and that's what we do! There are four MAFHC Freedom Centers in need of volunteers. Two at Metro Airport, one in Lansing, and one at the Troy Armed Forces Induction Center. Volunteer days and hours are very flexible. JWV members should get more info and signup to volunteer at: http://www.mifreedomcenter.org/volunteer-application.html.

July 26, 2017 - Dues Payments

All DUES payments should be sent directly to Washington. In the past, some Posts collected and "batched-up" dues payments, sending the total to National. This led to occasional errors at National when they tried to apply the batched payments to individual memberships. Please mail your membership payments directly to National JWV in Washington, D.C., instead of to your Post.