Bud Shepherd is familiar with the kinds of stress and danger war puts veterans through. In 1944, he was the tail gunner of a B-17 flying over Germany.
"They were shooting those 88mm at us and we had a shell go through the outer portion of the right wing on the airplane – left a big hole," Shepherd told Fox 8. "We lost three engines over the target. And then we started losing altitude and we flew for, oh maybe, two hours on one engine. We got back within 30 miles of France and that engine just quit – it just stopped like you turn a light switch off."
Shepherd and the others survived the descent only to be captured by the Germans when they reached the ground. For months he was held captive as a prisoner of war. When he returned to the States, he founded the Resources Exchanged Association, a company that sells food and other life essentials at low prices to help Americans, especially soldiers and their families.
Helping soldiers gave Shepherd the inspiration for another project – lending a hand to wounded veterans. Soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with wounds sometimes have their homes redesigned to accommodate their disabilities, so Shepherd decided that they could use the right tools to get the job done. The Reach Wounded Warrior Veterans Program was born.
Stephen Baker, who works at the program with Shepherd, helps deliver the deluxe toolboxes to veterans personally. "Seeing their face when you give it to them, even though it's just a toolbox with $800 worth of tools…they're thankful, they tear up, they always want their kids in the picture when we take one, because they say, 'I'm going to pass this down to my son,'" said Baker.
To assist veterans with a different kind of pursuit, the Veterans Outreach Center in Rochester, New York will make hundreds of donated suits, pants, vests and sports coats available to area veterans. Free tools and suits give veterans a chance to get a leg up on their life after service, both professionally and personally.
At the time of year when Americans are stringing Christmas lights, one organization was putting together a national effort to commemorate fallen soldiers with graveside wreaths. On Saturday, Wreaths Across America completed its mission of laying more than 900,000 wreaths on the graves of military veterans, not only nationwide, but all around the world. The annual community-oriented tradition, started in 1992 by Maine business owner Rob Worcester, traveled to over 1,000 national cemeteries and an additional 25 overseas.
"It's tremendous; there's a lot of help involved," Worcester told USA Today. "We have 320 trucks from about 150 volunteer truck companies."
Saturday marked the finale of a week long journey from Maine to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. "One part of Wreaths Across America day is an honor convoy that goes directly to Arlington (Cemetery). The 12-truck convoy takes six days (with) stops at schools, veterans' homes and other community centers," said Worcester.
U.S. congressman – and former Navy SEAL – Rep. Ryan Zinke was on hand with thousands of other volunteers on Saturday to help distribute the wreaths. According to The Hill, Zinke served in the Iraq War and spent more than 23 years in the Navy. He felt it was his duty in his life after service to be in Arlington. Looking out at the thousands of graves, he was well aware of the human cost they represented.
"We often fight wars with our young," he said. "That's the sacrifice."
Adorning Arlington's graves is just one way of making sure those sacrifices are not forgotten. Since 2007, when Wreaths Across America went non-profit, the number of distributed wreaths has skyrocketed from 30,000 to the more than 900,000 wreaths laid this year.
Before the recent climate talks in Paris, France, the U.S. military and other Armed Forces around the world were exempt from having to report their emissions. However, under the new climate deal, all militaries in the United Nations would no longer be exempt from emissions targets.
"If we're going to win on climate we have to make sure we are counting carbon completely, not exempting different things like military emissions because it is politically inconvenient to count them," Stephen Kretzmann, Oil Change International's director, told The Guardian. "The atmosphere certainly counts the carbon from the military, therefore we must as well."
When the climate agreement was reached on Dec. 12, the participating members of the treaty committed to noticeable emissions cuts by 2030. The U.S. military is currently the world's largest consumer of crude oil, according to Grist. Therefore, the American Armed Forces will have to make some serious changes to meet the new regulations.
Though many anticipated pushback from the Pentagon, the only response was a request for a Kyoto exemption on the grounds that a CO2 emissions report would pose a national security threat, as reported by The Guardian.
During the holidays, everyone wants to know that someone is thinking about them, and servicemembers are no different. That is why two Massachusetts natives, Emily Spencer and Lauren Eliopoulos, joined their nonprofits to gather holiday cards for soldiers and veterans.
Both women have personal ties to the Armed Forces and founded military-focused organizations to show their support of the troops. Every year since 2012, they have joined efforts to do something even more special. Spencer and Eliopoulos send out an annual request for holiday cards for the troops and veterans, according to Boston.com. This event is called Mission: Holiday Cards, and this year, the women received more cards than ever before.
"The fact that we've received cards from all 50 states and four countries, is insane," Spencer told CBS Boston.
A recent Facebook post from Eliopoulos' Hero Helpers of America page tallied the total number of cards up to 317,000. Boston.com reported that half of the cards will be distributed to the Fisher House medical facility in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, and the other half will be sent overseas to deployed soldiers.
For some, the best way to honor veterans is with the wind in their hair and the roar of their bike below them. Sunday was the 15th annual Vet's Christmas Charity Ride in Columbia, South Carolina, and it was by all accounts the biggest ever recorded.
According to The State, more than 7,000 riders showed up – at least 1,000 more than attended last year – ready and willing to share the holiday spirit with veterans at the Dorn VA Medical Center.
Army veteran Jim Wertman founded the event in 2000 with the help of Earl Smalls Jr. and Gene Royer.
"It was really sad to see these vets in the hospital," said Royer. "Some of them don't have family, some of them don't have Christmas. So we decided to start a Christmas ride. It's been getting bigger and bigger every year."
Many of the charity riders are veterans who have committed to giving back in their life after service. They were joined by military vehicles from the Vietnam era as they journeyed from Northeast Richland to the VA hospital in Lower Richland. Their arrival was met with waving flags. Shortly after, they distributed enough presents to fill an entire room.
The gifts sought most by Vet's Christmas Charity Ride – which ended up coming in from all over South Carolina – included clothing, winter gear, backpacks, hats, gift cards and radios, according to WLTX 19.
Gene Royer's brother, a Vietnam veteran, told The State that "It's important to me to give back to the veterans, that the veterans don't get treated the way we got treated when we got back from Vietnam. I'll be doing this until the day before I die, to make sure that new veterans and old veterans never get treated that way again."
In the 1990s, North Korea began to return many of the remains of American soldiers from the Korean War. Many of these servicemembers had been declared Missing in Action or Killed in Combat decades before. One of these men was Robert Dakin.
According to ABC News, Dakin served in the Korean War but went missing at the age of 22. Dakin had been fighting in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir when he disappeared. The military later declared he was killed in action, but Dakin's body was never returned home.
Dakin's remains were recently identified using DNA analysis, as reported by Fox 59 News. The soldier was brought home 65 years after he initially went missing.
On Dec. 12, Dakin's flag-draped coffin was pulled through the streets of downtown Waltham, Massachusetts as the soldier was taken to his final resting place, according to the Boston Globe. The news source stated that hundreds watched and waved flags or held "Welcome home" signs as the casket passed.
Dakin's family was present for the ceremony and the burial and were presented with the servicemember's Purple Heart medal.
It's been warmer than usual in much of the northeast this year, but New Englanders know that winter is coming. That's why the New England Center and Home for Veterans distributed heavy winter coats to 60 former servicemembers on Sunday morning, along with gift bags full of hats, socks and sweatshirts.
According to the Boston Globe, a big crowd of veterans and volunteers gathered together for the annual giveaway event. Some volunteers were surprised by just how much the donations meant.
"Most people aren't grateful to have a jacket," volunteer Kelsey Murphy told the Globe. "They just expect to have one. And then you come here and you see all these people who don't."
The event was put together by Rolling Thunder, an advocacy group dedicated to bringing the plight of prisoners of war and those warriors still missing in action to light.
Rolling Thunder had a busy weekend. Before their Boston chapter distributed coats on Sunday, another chapter assisted Wreaths Across America at the Somerset Hills Memorial Park in New Jersey on Saturday. MyCentralJersey.com reported that at noon, the group helped adorn the graves of 1,400 veterans after local students sang the National Anthem.
Many Rolling Thunder chapters participated in the annual event, which commemorates the sacrifices of the fallen with hundreds of thousands of wreaths.
During the holiday season, people often search for ways to make things a little more special for friends and family. However, there are some people who want to share the holiday spirit with strangers, too. Across the country, volunteers have decorated thousands of veterans' graves with holiday wreaths for National Wreaths Across America Day.
The annual wreath-laying ceremony has been around for many years. Veterans' charities and military organizations across the country purchase truckloads of wreaths and organize volunteers in every state to help lay them. This year's national event began on Dec. 12.
The volunteers arrived at a local veterans' cemetery and began placing holiday wreaths on each grave. Brian Blevin, one of the volunteers in Sacramento, told Fox 40 News that the event was something special to witness.
"It changes you, it makes you want to come back and do it more," Blevin said in his interview.
Blevin and the other volunteers across the country look at the event as an opportunity to honor those who served and to take part in the holiday spirit.
WDBJ 7 News reported that over 700,000 wreaths were laid in the 2014 ceremony.
Veterans Day isn't the only day of the year veterans are honored with parades. In San Angelo, Texas and Louisville, Kentucky, veterans were at the center of parades recognizing them for their dedication to service.
The Standard-Times reported that school bands from all over San Angelo and other parts of Texas were on hand on Thursday, Dec. 10 to receive 23 veterans wounded and disabled by combat. San Angelo Support for Veterans, Inc. and Lone Star Warriors Outdoors sponsored the men to participate in a multi-day, free-of-cost hunting trip to a number of West Texas ranches.
"Oh my gosh, this was amazing," Chris Gill, founder of LSWO, told the Standard-Times. "I've seen parades out here before but this was totally unexpected."
Uniformed servicemembers drove the 23 veterans along the Concho River route in golf carts as the Goodfellow Air Force Base Honor Guard, the Angelo State University drum corps and members of each branch of the service paid special tribute.
In Kentucky, the 60th inauguration parade – welcoming the state's 62nd governor into office – made sure veterans and first responders received their due. WHAS 11 described how four lines of marching police officers commemorated Daniel Ellis, Cameron Ponder, Eric Chrisman and Burke Rhoads – the four Kentucky officers killed in the line of duty this year.
An ambulance made its way through the parade as well, in memory of deceased paramedic John Mackey and fire chief Billy Ray Jarvis.
Servicemembers were also a main part of the parade. Medal of Honor recipient and Kentucky native Dakota Meyer, a Marine Corps veteran, was among those honored.
Charlie Coleman, a veteran who drove into town to see the parade, was moved by what he saw. "I was a coach. I've lost some players that were killed in Afghanistan and I lost a brother-in-law in Vietnam," he told WHAS 11. "So I'm pleased that they're being recognized today. What a great day for the Commonwealth."
With the arrival of the holiday season, organizations around the nation are making sure military veterans take part in the festive spirit. At St. Mary on the Hill in Augusta, Georgia on Thursday, dozens of hospitalized veterans were treated to a Christmas dinner – complete with red, white and blue iced cake – by Ancient Order of Hibernia, the oldest Irish-Catholic organization in the country.
"With everything these veterans have done for our country, this is the absolute least we can do," Michael Ramp, president of Richmond County's branch of Ancient Order of Hibernia, told The Augusta Chronicle. "It truly is a pleasure to spend part of the holiday season with these heroes."
Many of the attending veterans were from other states, but residing in the Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home or Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center, where it was hard for family members to spend more than a few days with them.
John Joe, a VA recreation therapist, said that the veterans appreciated the attention. "This night means the world to our veterans. So many of these veterans are away from home and simply don't get this same kind of camaraderie at the hospital."
Veterans hundreds of miles away in Chicago felt the same way. At the Greater Chicago Food Depository – which established a food pantry at the Edward Hines Veterans Administration building in 2014 – requests for help from veterans were heard loud and clear.
"I ain't got no job," Cedrick Pipes told ABC 7. "I'm unemployed and I got to eat. And they got real good food here and it helps me."
Chicago's food bank, like Augusta's Christmas dinner, reminds veterans that their fellow countrymen still care about them in their life after service.
"Mostly I do it because I have a friend, he's a Korean veteran, and he can't get around," said Stefan Cipot of the 101st. "His car burned down last year and so we're helping him out."