The discovery of a forgotten Purple Heart has united distant family members, reported The Associated Press.

U.S. Army technician Eugene Victor Call and seven other soldiers were killed March 2, 1945 in Kapellen, Germany during World War II's Battle of the Bulge. The 32-year-old was a part of 2nd Platoon, Company C, 643rd Tank Destroyer Battalion, 83rd Infantry Division. Call received a posthumous Purple Heart for his service.

In October of 2015, Virginia Diagle of Fitchburg, Massachusetts passed away at the age of 82, leaving behind her husband Rick Diagle, reported the Sentinel and Enterprise. While taking inventory of his wife's possessions, Diagle came upon Call's Purple Heart. He soon discovered that his mother-in-law had been married to the deceased Army technician.

Diagle, a veteran himself, contacted the Vermont-based nonprofit Purple Hearts Reunited which returns lost or stolen military commendations to veterans or their surviving relatives. The organization put him in contact with distant relatives in Newport, New Hampshire and San Diego.

"This week's been quite a roller coaster ride. It's been almost 71 years since he died, but I'm almost reliving it – it's almost brand new to me," Mark Morris, a grandchild of Call's based in San Diego, said in an interview with the wire service. Morris' father, David Eugene, was taken to California when he was 8 and had few memories of Call. Eugene died in 2004. "I'm loving getting the medals but just finding out about all the family is awesome."

Diagle also reached out to Eugene Victor Call Jr., a 49 year-old truck driver in Newport. Call Jr. knew one of his great-uncles had died in World War II.

"I knew I was named after him, but other than that, nobody really said too much," he said.

Returning honor
Army National Guardsman and Purple Heart recipient Zachariah Fike founded Purple Hearts Reunited in July 2012, reported NPR. Fike started the organization after his mother gave him for Christmas a Purple Heart she had found in an antique shop. The name Corrado A.G. Piccoli was engraved on the back. Fike discovered that Piccoli had been killed in Europe during World War II and resolved to return the medal to his family.

The guardsman eventually tracked down Piccoli's sister Adeline Rockko in New Lisbon, New Jersey and returned the medal.

"We were very fortunate that you were the one who ended up with the Purple Heart," Rockko told Fike during a radio interview with NPR. "You're part of our family now."

Purple Hearts Reunited has returned service medals to over 200 veterans and family members.

Riding a bike is an exercise many Americans undertake every day as a means of staying in shape, but these days, one group of veterans is getting a lot of mileage out of the practice after being wounded during service.

A number of current service members in the Air Force recently participated in the Ride 2 Recovery along with 20 wounded veterans near Las Vegas, according to a report from the Air Force News Service. Altogether, the current and former airmen rode their bikes 20 miles through mountainous terrain over the course of three days, as part of a program that not only focuses on rehabbing injuries, but also building a team spirit and improving veterans' confidence.

One of the organizers of this group of vets noted that one of the servicemembers who participated was very reserved, but after the program has become a lot more outgoing, the report said. Another who was paralyzed from the neck down can ride up to 10 miles with the group, up from just a quarter of a mile previously.

"I'm just happy to be alive and be out here because I spent a lot of time depressed," retired Master Sgt. Chris White told the news organization. "To be out here, it puts all the negativity out of my head and for that time I'm happy to be with my friends. We're brothers in arms and I'm in my element with people who are like minded, and just want to escape the daily grind of having their struggles and be around people who understand what it's like."

These kinds of groups can do a world of good for veterans in need, and often all those service members need to do is reach out and ask for assistance when they need it.

Suicide among veterans is at an unfortunately high level and has been for quite a while now. And after a new study found that this was particularly true among female veterans, a number of federal legislators came together to try to address the issue.

The Female Veterans Suicide Prevention Act, backed by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Barbara Boxer of California, Joni Ernst of Iowa, and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, would allow the VA to expand the ways in which it evaluates mental health of female former servicemembers in particular.The legislation would also examine which programs are most effective in treating those veterans, according to a report from the New Haven Register. This comes after a study by the VA found that female veterans commit suicide at a rate six times greater than that of female civilians.

"With suicide among women veterans happening at an alarming rate, (the bill) will help save lives by ensuring VA is providing the care, counseling and outreach these veterans need," Blumenthal told the newspaper.

Right now there are about 2 million female veterans nationwide, and if the suicide rate observed in the study holds true, that constitutes almost 700 preventable deaths, the report said. That compares with just 108 among a similar slice of the female civilian population. In addition, the number of female vets is also the fastest-growing demographic group among those treated by the VA. The government organization recognizes that it has to do more to help them in particular, with some 16,000 currently not in the VA system to a sufficient degree, and little money coming in to help expand those efforts.

The more the VA and other agencies or groups can do to reach veterans regardless of their gender or other issues, the better off they will be in the future.

Many people try to help veterans in rather material ways, giving them financial, medical, and even housing support. But others can also help veterans in other ways, and that's just what a funeral home in Wisconsin is doing in conjunction with local Girl Scouts these days.

Herman-Taylor Funeral Home in Wisconsin Rapids recently began collecting Valentine's Day cards and, with the help of those Girl Scouts, distributing them to former servicemembers at the nearby Wisconsin Veterans Home at King, after years of sending them to those serving overseas, according to a report from Wausau television station WAOW. At this point, more than 250 cards have already been given by local residents, and they will be dropped off starting Feb. 10 to the more than 700 vets who live at the facility.

"I started visiting a lot of the veterans finding out that many of them have no spouse, they have no grand kids, they have nobody come to visit," Ronald Miller, who works at Wisconsin Veterans Home at King American Legion Hospital, told the station.

The more that can be done to make veterans feel comfortable and appreciated, the better. Many organizations make outreach efforts such as these, and all of them go a long way toward helping former servicemembers.

A controversial deal between UCLA and the VA which resulted in a lawsuit a few years ago has been revised to ensure that veterans have better access to health care and other improvements. This comes after the American Civil Liberties Union argued the VA was improperly allowing UCLA to lease VA land.

As a consequence of the suit, it seems the VA has announced a new plan to improve the services it provides to disabled veterans, and expand housing options for homeless former servicemembers as well, according to a report from the Daily Bruin, the UCLA student newspaper. As a result of the new plan, many local veterans believe that they're going to receive access to dramatically improved services.

Part of that involves UCLA paying $1.15 million each year going forward, to help pay for medical, legal, and recreational costs incurred by veterans, the report said. The school will also pay $300,000 per year to continue leasing Jackie Robinson Stadium, where the school's baseball team plays.

With more organizations looking to help veterans in a number of ways, the options former servicemembers may have to get assistance like medical care, housing, and so on, continue to grow significantly.

Many veterans get a lot of real-world training for future careers while they're in the service, but others may want to further their education. Now, one of the nation's most prestigious universities has a relatively new program that may be able to help them along the way.

Yale's Warrior-Scholar program has been up and running for a little less than four years, and helps get more than 200 veterans into some of the nation's best-known schools, including 30 who attend Yale itself, according to a report from the New Haven Register. It's a two-week program that helps them to better understand the process of heading back to school after spending years away from the classroom.

"Honestly, I wasn't sure I had any chance at all [to go back to college]," 26-year-old Rob Henderson, who served in the Air Force and didn't attend school for eight years, but is now a Yale sophomore, told the newspaper. "It was definitely a shot in the dark. It seemed to be kind of the solution to what I was looking for. Veterans who have not been in school for several years need to refresh their academic skills [and might] have some questions about the admissions process."

Many veterans who go through the program say that they don't feel much difference between themselves and their often younger classmates, the report said. That helps with the transition back to civilian life as much as any program probably could.

The more veterans who are interested in academics after their service can do to review their options, the better off they're likely to be. Many other college have programs similar to these and that can go a long way toward helping them achieve their goals.

A while ago, now, President Barack Obama asked cities across the country to try to end their veteran homelessness problems by the end of 2015. In Riverside, California, city officials say they did so in the 11th hour.

Originally, the city believed it only had 41 homeless veterans living there, and housed them successfully, but another survey found the number was more than double the initial estimate, according to a report from the Riverside Press Enterprise. However, city officials successfully got the 89th and last of them to be identified into a positive housing situation on Dec. 31. Since then, however, more such homeless veterans have been identified, so the city is still working to help them as well.

"Do we understand that we are never going to get to … zero? Absolutely," Monica Sapien, the city's homeless services coordinator, told the newspaper. "Homelessness is always going to exist. But there's a streamlined process now should we encounter a homeless veteran. That is absolutely huge."

This is part of a massive effort being taken by many cities across the country in accordance with Obama's goal. Many have already done what Riverside has, effectively ending their homelessness problems, and a large number are close to doing so as well. Veterans who are struggling with tenuous housing situations or homelessness therefore need to know that there are a number of avenues they might be able to pursue to help them deal with it.

Likewise, former servicemembers struggling with other types of problems, be they large or small, will probably have a number of organizations in their local areas that can help them. These can be public or private, but the safety nets in place for veterans are often quite helpful.

When veterans enter their life after service, they trade the difficulties of military culture for those of the homefront. Among the charming wonders of civilian life are the headaches associated with trying to find a good place of employment. Plenty of veterans have found that, even after successful military careers, they continue to fire off resumes to no effect.

If that's the case, it's time to reassess your candidate profile and make some adjustments. While veterans are very much in-demand around the country, job competition remains pretty fierce, and that means a fine-tuned approach is called for if you're going to land a great position. 

Here are some areas to consider:

Resume
Begin with the most obvious starting point. Since your resume is an employer's first opportunity to begin to know you, it's important that you make it as noteworthy as possible. That means you highlight your strengths, abilities and value to a particular company in clear, precise language. It also means that you don't rely too heavily on clichés. Make yourself stand out. 

For example, rather than write that you're a "hard worker" with "leadership abilities," point to a specific time and place where those qualities were demonstrated. Did you lead a squad overseas? Run an office on base? What exact results did you achieve? These are the kinds of concrete details employers are looking for. 

Cover letter
If your resume is a first look, than your cover letter is a first impression. Imagine you're speaking to an employer face-to-face for the first time. You'd want to impress them, right? That's what your cover letter is for. It's a small piece of your personality, a glimpse into who you are as both a worker and as an individual. 

Remember that the human resources staffs at most companies are usually swamped with resumes and applications. Oftentimes they'll just read the first few paragraphs of a cover letter or summary before moving on to the next candidate. You can't just be another face in the crowd. Capture their attention from the get-go and refuse to let go of it. 

Qualifications
Part of the difficulty veterans face is that civilian employers don't know how to put their skills to use.

"In my experience, companies have struggled to figure out how veterans fit in their own organizations," Mike Starich, a Marine and CEO of Orion ICS LLC, told NorthJersey.com. "Many companies are making an effort. I believe they have an obligation to help veterans find the best fit inside a company."

To help employers better understand your value to their business, take a close look at the job qualifications listed in the description. You may meet all of them, or you may not. Match up your abilities to those required as best as you can. A recruiter may be persuaded to hire you based on those qualifications you do have and train you on those you don't. 

Networking
Don't get entirely bogged down in pursuit of a bulletproof resume and forget the other resources at your disposal, namely, other veterans. Many returning servicemembers have found jobs simply by talking to veterans who have been out on the job hunt before. The ground you're treading is familiar to them. Ask them for advice, to look over your resume, and possibly put you in contact with employers.

Talking to people and being engaged with your community is invaluable. Whether that's through volunteer work, sports leagues or group hobbies, it gets you speaking to a wider array of people who may be able to help you find work. Don't let these opportunities pass you by. 

Many veterans find discussing their war experiences difficult. Perhaps writing about them instead could provide some relief. That's the hope of cowboy poet Vess Quinlan, who took advantage of last month's 32nd National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada to address a workshop of combat veterans and their families about sharing their stories.

Quinlan is not a veteran himself, The Associated Press reported, but poems received from Vietnam veterans – men who thought Quinlan could identify with their struggle based on his writings about fighting with polio – persuaded him to reach out to veterans in their life after service.

Getting veterans to trust him and begin an honest conversation is the workshop's biggest challenge, Quinlan told the AP. 

"It takes an hour before people start understanding what we're doing and that we're not there to get anything from them," he said.

Bill Jones, a fellow cowboy poet and a Vietnam veteran who assists Quinlan with the workshops, said that the national attitude was not open to discussing the war after he returned home. In an atmosphere like that, it's no wonder veterans have difficulty talking about their experiences. 

"When I came back it was best not to say anything," Jones told the AP. "It was best not to say you had been to Vietnam." 

Attending one of Quinlan's workshops changed that for him. 

"I wrote about a lot of my experiences over there," Jones said. "Combat is a very life-changing event. After you've been in combat you look at life a little bit differently." 

Quinlan hopes to continue helping veterans find their voices. He told the Elko Daily Free Press that the workshops provided an opportunity to veterans to feel free to write about and explore their memories among fellow brothers and sisters who understand their situation better than anyone. 

"Their purpose now [is] to tell a story, but it's the same brotherhood," he said. 

In addition to the problems directly related to veteran homelessness, many other former servicemembers deal with their own housing issues as well. However, more municipalities are starting to take action to prevent these problems, including Baltimore County, Maryland.

Indeed, the Baltimore County Council unanimously passed a bill last week which will make it easier for veterans to get the housing options they may desperately need, according to a report from Baltimore television station WBAL. Specifically, the law prevents landlords from discriminating against would-be tenants for being veterans, and in fact allows other landlords to list properties as being for veterans only.

"As vets return home, they face enormous challenges in their transition to civilian life," Councilman Todd Crandell said, according to the station. "Veteran's Affairs benefits are stretched thin, so the challenges to assist our heroes fall on the shoulders of nonprofit groups who help with issues such as adjustment to the civilian workforce, combat-related disabilities. Housing is largely unaddressed by these veterans organizations or the VA itself."

The hope is that these types of efforts go a long way toward getting more veterans into stable housing situations that are going to benefit them in the long term, and help end the problem of veteran homelessness once and for all.