European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 25, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 s f a r s an stripes sunday March 252007 photos by Joe and stripes medal of Honor recipients from world War ii the korean War and the Vietnam War gather at the Senate in Washington to help promote National medal of Honor Day sunday Marks first medal of Honor Day by Leo Shane Iii stars and stripes vet eran Gary Littrell Doest have any events or speeches planned for sunday the first National medal of Honor Day he Hopes this is the last time if s a relaxing Day for him i Hope that every 25th of March from this Day Forward in in a school or at a boy scout or girl scout event or a Junior Roth event said Littrell a 1973 recipient of the award and presi Dent of the congressional medal of Honor society i Hope i can help educate our youth Foster patriotism and inspire our youth to become worthy citizens Littrell spoke wednesday at a Capitol Hill reception to Cele brate Congress designation of the new National Day of recognition the medal is the highest Mili tary Honor the event Drew 31 medal of Honor recipients together including the oldest living honoree re tired Sailor John finn who manned an antiaircraft gun in an exposed parking lot during the japanese attack on Pearl Harbor i never dreamed i would be awarded the medal the 97yearold Veteran said i was a Little curl haired boy when i enlisted in the Navy in 1926 i could never conceive All of the at Tention and adulation that All of us medal recipients receive finn said when the attack began he rushed to Man the machine gun because he knew every Man needed to react quickly he Navy to pay More sailors for linguistic proficiency by Jeff Schogol stars and stripes Arlington a the Navy has broadened the eligibility Pool for a Bonus pay program for sail ors who speak foreign languages Navy officials said thursday the amount sailors can earn varies depending on their scores on the defense language proficiency test How Many speakers per language the Navy already has and which languages the Navy needs most officials said under the program sailors can earn Between and per month per language up to a Maxi mum of per month said senior chief Petty officer David Baker Navy foreign language pro Gram office manager officials said the Navy has now expanded which sailors Are Eligi ble for the pay to include All sailors who graduate from the defense language Institute in Monterey Calif sailors assigned to special warfare naval expeditionary combat command Fleet Marine Force and the health service aug mentation program such As corpsmen sailors who have to use their language skills while deployed on emergency unplanned or Adoc operations Baker said he could not Esti mate How Many More sailors Are now eligible for the extra pay under the new eligibility require ments he also said the Navy does not have a target for the number of sailors it Hopes will Avail them selves of the extra pay sailors who receive the pay Are required to maintain their Lan Guage skills on their own see Navy administrative message at  for More information email Jeff Schogol at said he Hopes today troops take that lesson to heart Only 112 of the 3444 medal recipients Are living today two have been awarded for actions in Iraq both posthumously Marine Cpl Jason Dunham died after div ing on a grenade to save his Fel Low troops while army sgt 1st class Paul Ray Smith was killed while protecting his troops evacuate wounded soldiers from the Battlefield All of us medal recipients were just out there trying to do the Best we could for our fellow troops on the ground said Ronald Ray who As a Soldier in Vietnam sur Vived a grenade blast to Lead his troops out of an ambush the message is As Long As you protect each other and work to Complete your Mission things will turn out right other medal holders echoed that sentiment noting that their one Day of heroism was a reflection of years of military training and preparation the first medals of Honor were Gary Littrell Back ground National president of the congressional medal of Honor society introduces Bernard Fisher right and John finn who at age 97 is the oldest living recipient of the nations High est military Honor awarded 144 years ago sunday to six Union soldiers who travelled nearly 200 Miles into Confederate territory to steal a train in a rail Way sabotage attempt email Leo Shane at i report fort Lewis boosts care at base Hospital amid lawmakers concerns stars and stripes prodded by Washington state lawmakers the fort Lewis commander took action this month to improve the care and living conditions for soldiers at Madigan army medical Center the Seattle  reported Friday ordered that All soldiers be allowed to see their medical records p promised that soldiers could have Meir cases reviewed by a physician and a lawyer moved to establish a hot line for complaints controlled by the army inspector general the Post intelligencer wrote that rep Norm Dicks Dwash sent a letter of concent test week to acting army Secretary Pete Geren after he and two other lawmakers met March 10 with 30 wounded soldiers at Madigan South of Tacoma according the the Post intelligencer the letter Toge Bensaid that Case managers were primarily interested in protecting the army the soldiers health it also said that soldiers have faced retribution for raising concerns with the medical evaluation process and an inability to get their concerns to their commanders we got an earful a big time earful the paper quotes Dicks As saying if you want to find out what is really going on you get in a room without their supervisors general China hot line possible Beijing chivas military is proposing officer exchanges and other Confidence building measures with the us army and May be inching closer to set Ting up a hot line for emergency communication with Washington the top us general said Friday however Marine Gen Peter Pace chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said he received no new in formation in meetings with chinese military chiefs about Beijing test of an ant satellite weapon in Jan uary that raised concern in Washington he said he continued to press chivas generals for More transparency about the Aims of their military buildup Pace said he agreed to study the proposals put for Ward Friday by Gen Liang Guanglin chief of the chinese army general staff department Dempsey nominated for Post in a the department of defense announced Friday that defense Secretary Robert Gates has nominated army it Gen Martin e Dempsey for reappoint ment to the Grade of lieutenant general and assign ment As Deputy commander us Central com Mand Macdill air Force base Fla Dempsey is currently serving As commander multinational Security transition command Iraq the organization responsible for training and equip Ping iraqi Security forces Dempsey was commanding general 1st a Mored division United states army Europe and 7th army Germany from june 2003 to july 2005 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