WBFO Veterans News Desk

Students at a Buffalo-area elementary school got a head start on Veterans Day celebrations, welcoming some local military and first response personnel to their school.

The Buffalo City Mission is planning to construct a new One-Stop Community Center on East Tupper Street. Thursday, a local restaurateur and hotel owner pledged $200,000 to fund a wing within that building to support displaced veterans.

Ten years ago, Buffalo became the first city in the nation to introduce a court specifically for veterans who, through support and treatment, could overcome issues that put them in legal trouble and were preventing them from living lives as productive civilians. Now, Buffalo's Veteran Treatment Court serves as a mentor for other communities looking to establish the same.

While Americans are familiar with Memorial Day and Veterans Day, and some are familiar with Armed Forces Day, few may know about Gold Star Mother's Day. It's a day set aside to recognize and honor the women whose children lost their lives in the line of military duty. One local author spent years collecting the stories of mothers who lost sons in the Vietnam War.

Fundraising for the nation’s first monument to honor African American veterans across all U.S. conflicts is getting a boost from Catholic Health, and the company’s employees are being recognized the process.

Congressman Brian Higgins joined local veterans Thursday outside an Amerst-based center that is slated to close at the end of September. Their message to the Department of Veterans Affairs: keep the Adult Day Health Care center open. Higgins also suggested the VA's explanation for closing it doesn't entirely make sense.

He is among the Native Americans who played a special role in World War II, serving as the famed Code Talkers. Louis Levi Oakes traveled to Buffalo to visit the Marine Corps League National Convention, which concludes Friday at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center.

A center providing healthcare assistance, physical therapy, meals and a social setting for local veterans is scheduled to close at the end of September. Clients of the VA Adult Day Health Care facility on Sheridan Drive in Amherst say they're being forced to find alternative care arrangements. They'd rather see the services moved to a new location. One local Congressman has sent a letter to the VA Western New York Healthcare System seeking answers.

Sixty-seven years after his death, a Buffalo native has received a half-dozen medals - including the Purple Heart - for his service in the Korean War.

Robert Wilkie, who was confirmed overwhelmingly by the U.S. Senate as the new Secretary of Veterans Affairs, takes over a department that President Donald Trump has vowed to shake up by firing "bad" employees and steering more veterans toward private health care. The head of a veteran support agency in Buffalo says change is good, though no one's talking about replacing or fully privatizing the VA.

More than 100 youngsters are wrapping up a week's getaway at a summer camp in Angola, along the Lake Erie shoreline. It's a summer camp hosted specifically for children of military personnel who have been deployed, are currently deployed or soon will be. It's known as Operation Purple Camp.

A traveling version of the wall bearing the names of tens of thousands of U.S. military personnel who died in the Vietnam War is arriving in Niagara Falls Wednesday. The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall, once assembled, will be on display through next Monday in the city's Hyde Park.

A suburban Buffalo agency that serves military veterans and families in need has a program available that makes many youth programs attainable for those who might otherwise struggle to afford it.

Two state lawmakers, one from each house of the Legislature, are announcing funding that brings a long-desired memorial closer to reality on Buffalo's waterfront.

Visitors to the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park will have an added piece of technology to enhance their experience. WBFO’s senior reporter Eileen Buckley says Bak USA delivered 20-tablets to the downtown Naval Park at Canalside. 

As the nation marks its annual observance of Flag Day, the Erie County Clerk's Office and the county's auto bureaus are launching the sale of flag-themed cards that will raise much-needed funds for local veteran posts and halls.

A regional retailer, raising the money one dollar at a time, presented a locally-based veterans organization with more than $12,000 to support ongoing efforts aiding those who have left the military and are transitioning - many times with difficulty - into civilian life.

Niagara Falls City High School students gave a World War two veteran a hero’s welcome Thursday.  WBFO’s senor reporter Eileen Buckley says the veteran delivered a historic lesson to the students.

He is best known to most Americans as the developer of classic television shows including "All in the Family," "Sanford and Son," "The Jeffersons" and "Good Times." Before that, during World War II, Norman Lear was part of a B-17 crew that ran missions over Germany. What many may not know is his Buffalo connection and how the war influenced his TV career.

Jewish Americans accounted for a higher percentage of the US military during World War II than the entire US population. On Sunday, May 27 at 9:30 p.m., WNED-TV will broadcast a documentary which celebrates the Jews who contributed to the war effort, specifically members of the US Army Air Corps.