CelebVet
WeSalute Awards
CelebVet: Kris Kristofferson, Entertainer
Kris Kristofferson was born on June 22, 1936 in Brownsville, Texas. The son of an Air Force major general, he spent his youth in flux, moving around the country wherever his father was assigned.
WeSalute Awards
CelebVet: LeRoy Neiman, Artist & Army Vet
Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1927, Neiman quit school and enlisted in the Army in 1942, serving as a cook for four years, with two years of combat in the European Theatre.
WeSalute Awards
CelebVet: Chuck Norris, Karate Champion & Actor
Carlos Ray Norris, son of an Irish mother and a Cherokee Indian father who abandoned the family, found salvation in the Air Force. He is also involved with The Fund for Kids, the Make-a-Wish Foundation, the United War, and the VA’s National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans.
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CelebVet: Pat Sajak, Wheel of Fortune
Sajak, a Chicago native, left college to join the Army in what he calls “a burst of patriotism.” His hope was to get to work for Armed Forces Radio. Instead, he was trained as a clerk-typist. Sent to Vietnam as a finance clerk, he wrote to his congressman
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CelebVet: Al Bumbry, Baseball All-Star
Of the thousands of professional athletes – in major league baseball, basketball, and football, in tennis and golf – only a handful served on active duty during the years of the Vietnam War. This was a major difference between Vietnam and World War II, when major leaguers flocked to enlist by the hundreds, often to the detriment of their careers.
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CelebVet: Hal Linden, Actor and Singer
Hal Linden, the multi-talented actor, singer, and musician who is this year’s Chairman of the VA’s National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans, opened the Broadway season in a new play entitled "The Gathering" by Arje Shaw.WeSalute Awards
CelebVet: Ellis Marsalis, Jazz Great, U.S. Marine
With the Grammy Awards in February each year, which is also African American History Month, it is particularly fitting to recognize one of the M