National:
Toxic Exposure:
- Open Burn Pits/Airborne Hazards.
- Gulf War related exposures.
- Agent Orange.
- Radiation.
- Camp Lejeune contaminated water exposure
- Other exposures; PACT Act registration; Call 1-800-MyVA411, then press B or contact your local VA care team; VSR.
State: I have spoken to the local Virginia Veterans Support Office in Fairfax. They are having a shift in personnel. Will have two new Veterans Service Representatives (VSR). Loudon, Springfield also have officers from the Virginia State Department of Veterans Affairs.
History and Patriotism-Irish in the Military
Still looking for more veterans’ stories. This month I would like to highlight the first Irish American Medal of Honor. The first Irish American to receive the Medal was Michael Madden, who received it for his actions in the American Civil War. The earliest action for which the Medal of Honor was awarded was to Irish American U.S. Army Assistant Surgeon Bernard J.D. Irwin for the engagement at Apache Pass, 13 February 1861. The award was made three decades after the event and after Madden’s award. Private Madden’s award was for action in Mason’s Island, MD, 3 September 1861 for assisting a wounded comrade to the riverbank and, under heavy fire of the enemy, swam with him across a branch of the Potomac to the Union lines.
The award to Dr Irwin is impressive in that he was a surgeon but led a rescue mission to relieve a detachment of the 7th Infantry surrounded by Apache, 13-14 Feb 1861. The Medal of Honor did not exist during the time of the Bascom Incident and would not be established until a year later in 1862. However, the actions of Irwin were remembered, and he was awarded the Medal of Honor just prior to his retirement on January 24, 1894. Irwin’s actions were the earliest for which the Medal of Honor was awarded, pre-dating the outbreak of the American Civil War.
