Because of his contact with Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, Army veteran Jan Heinz lost feeling in both his legs from the thigh down. The 66-year-old told KPVI-6 News that it made mobility difficult for him. When a local organization called the Independence Foundation heard Heinz's story, it donated a new technologically advanced wheelchair to him.

The Independence Foundation, known in Eastern Idaho as a philanthropic group dedicated to helping disabled veterans, purchased Heinz a Trac-Fab. These wheelchairs were designed for veterans with disabilities and are equipped with traction wheels, making it an all-terrain mobility aide. 

KPVI-6 News reported that the Trac-Fab wheelchairs typically cost between $12,000 to $15,000, but Heinz did not have to pay anything.

"It makes you feel very, very humble and it is really nice to know there are organizations out there that help Veterans like myself," Heinz told KPVI-6 News.

Before the Trac-Fab, Heinz would have to perform his duties on the Pocatello Veteran's Honor Guard using his walking cane, according to the news source. It was not easy for him to move around, but since the Independence Foundation's donation, his quality of life has greatly improved.

A determined national effort to hire men and women entering their life after service has paid off. According to the Department of Defense, corporate America's desire to employ veterans with specialized skills training has dropped the veteran unemployment rate to its lowest level since April 2008.

Once a rampant problem among servicemembers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, DoD News reported this week that veteran unemployment has been consistently lower than that of the nonveteran population – going on 23 straight weeks in a row – at just 3.9 percent. The improved job numbers are due to both the overall strength of the economy and the active pursuit of veterans by businesses nationwide.

Susan S. Kelly, who heads DoD's Transition to Veterans program, told DoD News that "The heads of corporations say they spend millions of dollars every year teaching their managers leadership skills." But veterans arrive on day one with those skills already ingrained. Teamwork, critical thinking, and persistence all come naturally to them and don't need to be taught.

Companies across the country are taking advantage of that. Walmart easily met its commitment to hiring 100,000 veterans, so it decided to do better and hire 250,000. Hire 500,000 Heroes, a campaign launched by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, has already collected hiring promises from thousands of businesses that will far surpass its stated goal.

"Until every veteran who wants a job is hired, our work is not done," said Ross Brown, J.P. Morgan Chase's head of military and veteran affairs, in an email to the Los Angeles Times.

"The real value has been promoting a positive brand for veterans," Phillip Carter, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told the Times. "The message has been: Hiring veterans is good for business."

According to ABC News, the Nazis in charge of Prisoner of War camps during World War II had orders to separate the Jewish-American prisoners from the other soldiers. When the Nazis tried to follow through with this order, Roddie Edmonds took a stand. 

The news source reported that Edmonds was the highest ranking non-commissioned officer in the camp at the time. He used his authority to bring 1,000 other captives forward when the Nazis called for the Jewish soldiers. Edmonds told the captors, "We are all Jews here." His actions may have saved the lives of hundreds of his fellow soldiers, and 70 years later, Israel awarded him with the title "Righteous among the Nations," the country's highest honor.

"Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds seemed like an ordinary American soldier, but he had an extraordinary sense of responsibility and dedication to his fellow human beings," Avner Shalev, chairman of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum and Memorial, told ABC News. "The choices and actions of Master Sgt. Edmonds set an example for his fellow American soldiers as they stood united against the barbaric evil of the Nazis."

Edmonds is one of only four other Americans to receive the title, and though it was awarded posthumously, his family told ABC News that they were very proud of his actions. 

The Maine Veterans Project was founded to help veterans in the state by hosting events and performing charitable actions. Most recently, this organization will soon help a local veteran by making huge improvements to his home. 

According to WABI News, Harry Johnson was born and raised in Machias, Maine. He served in the military before returning to his hometown. The news source stated that Johnson had lived in the same house for many years, but as he began to age, he was unable to keep up with the repairs. 

The community that Johnson had always been a part of contacted the Maine Veterans Project to seek help for the former servicemember. The organization partnered with EBS Building Supplies to organize a home makeover for the beloved veteran.

Volunteers from Machias and other parts of the state will assist the Veterans Project on Dec. 5 in making the repairs to Johnson's home. Those who heard about the story but could not come to join in on labor made donations that helped pay for the supplies. 

When asked if he was overwhelmed by the show of support from his state, Johnson told the news source that overwhelmed was an understatement.

One of the great ways this country has of celebrating veterans are honor flights. Conducted by nonprofits, which transport veterans from all around the country to Washington D.C. war memorials, the flights come at zero cost to men and women in their life after military service. They are done solely out of a desire to show appreciation and pay respect to those who served. 

In Kansas City this week, veterans who participated in the Heartland Honor Flights to visit the World War II memorial, among other monuments, got together for a reunion. More than 100 veterans arrived to discuss their service in various conflicts, including WWII and Vietnam.

Jimmy Halley, a U.S. Navy veteran, told KMBC News how "We set up on the poop deck and with field glasses, we watched General MacArthur and the Japanese all sign the treaty." Halley's stories are so interesting that even young children, usually apathetic, can't help but listen. "My grandkids are (interested)," he said. "They all get around the table and want to listen and they usually don't listen."

Veterans nationwide participated in the honor flights. Ed Parks of Gainesville, Ohio told the Gainesville Times that "It was the most impressive thing I ever saw, and it was very emotional. I mean it was tough on us. Everywhere we went, people would shake our hands and tell us how much they appreciated our time and service."

By Veterans Affairs' numbers, there are more than 400,000 veterans in South Carolina. In fact, veterans and their families account for a third of the state's population. There are already hundreds of organizations in place to assist men and women in their life after service, but part of The State and Local Veterans Issues Study Committee's concern is that there is no central body in place designed to help vets navigate the maze of services.

The committee aims to change that. Though it has existed for about five years, The State reported that it was only just recently that six new members were added, including appointees by Gov. Nikki Haley and the state's adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Robert Livingston.

"We need to have a longstanding and continued focus on the needs of our veterans," said State Representative James Smith to The State. 

At a meeting on Tuesday the members agreed that their biggest issue was consolidating resources for veterans – including housing and suicide prevention measures – and, just as importantly, keeping everyone involved committed and accountable. 

Col. Ronald Taylor, a member of the National Guard and newly appointed to the committee, told South Carolina's local WLTX News that "A lot of great folks want to do a lot of great things but sometimes having so many different programs kind of creates some confusion out there." To The State he continued "But we need to create that one entity where a persona can walk in and get assistance." 

The process is complicated, however, by the fact that every county has its own veterans' affairs office funded and run by county residents – meaning that statewide oversight doesn't exist. Some committee members have suggested that VA centers be determined by congressional districts, but as for the moment, all major decisions remain on the horizon. 

It didn't seem possible for the Department of Veterans Affairs to become any more embattled than it already was following the demotion of two department administrators in November, but the VA's recent decision not to attempt a recovery of the nearly $400,000 in relocation expenses paid out to the administrators may have done just that. However, new legislation proposed by Rep. Jeff Miller, the chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, would allow the VA to recoup any payments regarded as illegal or improper.

Miller's proposal would apply to not only the reallocation funds dolled out to Diana Rubens in Philadelphia and Kimberly Graves in St. Paul, Minnesota – the two VA officials removed from their posts – but also to any future incident. The Military Times reported that an internal investigation conducted by the VA found that both Rubens and Graves leveraged their power to receive thousands of dollars in moving fees and to receive undue promotions.

According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Rubens would be forced to repay the $274,000 the federal government spent relocating her to Delaware County from Washington, D.C. last year. It was alleged that Rubens desired the move because the position offered the same pay but fewer responsibilities. She has since been reassigned to the VA's office in Houston. Graves, meanwhile, will have to return about $130,000. 

The VA sent Rep. Miller a letter last month stating that they couldn't pursue reimbursement due to legal reasons. Miller decided that wasn't good enough. "If, as VA officials have claimed, the department truly lacks the legal authority to recoup the money Rubens and Graves benefited from as part of their scheme, we aim to fix that with this bill," said Miller in a statement. 

It isn't yet clear whether or not the proposed legislation can become law. A related measure was passed in 2014, simplifying the process for firing senior VA executives who have failed to support veterans in their life after service, but Miller's bill still faces a long road ahead. 

Maybe more than ever before, the annual Veterans Food Drive is proving to former servicemembers just how much people care. Archie Callahan, a veteran of three Middle East deployments, told the Chicago Tribune that the generosity shown him and his family by the food drive "feels like a great big hug."

Callahan, and each of the other 1,200 veterans who showed up at the Bridgeview Sports Dome on Saturday, was given a 20-pound turkey and seven bags of food that, when arranged in the correct order, spelled out "thanks." More than 250 volunteers were at work organizing thousands of boxes of food for the big day. Veterans only had to show their current military ID or discharge papers in addition to some proof of their Illinois residency.

The food drive was so popular that some veterans faced long lines. Mary Jarvis Anderson, an Army veteran who served in Fallujah, Iraq, told the Tribune that she and her father, a World War II veteran, were happy to spend more than an hour in traffic outside the sports facility because the care packages were worth the wait.

"I was unemployed but I just started a new job and this is so going to really help," said Anderson. "This is beyond nice that they are doing this. It means so much that people think of us and want to help."

Last year the food drive fed 800 people. An advance online registration targeted a higher goal of 1,000 for this year, but so many donations came in from around the state that walk-in veterans were able to receive bags of food as well.

Similar Thanksgiving food drives are happening all around the country. In Jacksonville, Florida, where about 1 in 6 people does not reliably have access to food, the Clara White Mission announced a huge food drive specifically for veterans. With the holiday season approaching, charitable donations are more frequent and veterans will find many organizations supporting them. 

Photographers across the country are putting their art to use as a unique means for honoring veterans. On Veterans Day, Trish Logan photographed 50 veterans as they left a Veterans Day program. She offered them both individual portraits and group photographs with their families. All photographs were free of charge, the Oxford Hills Sun Journal reported.

"They all have great stories," Logan told the Journal. Her project to commemorate veterans is part of a wider effort to give back to her Maine community, called the Logan Legacy Project, which offers donations to local high schools, college scholarships and opportunities for students to learn about photography. 

Logan's veteran project began in 2010, when the Wreaths Across America initiative stopped by the Maine Veterans' Home. Seeing the veterans' faces as they watched the procession go by in the cold wind outside left an indelible impact on her.

Speaking with local students opened Logan's eyes to how little they knew about certain moments in history, particularly the experiences World War II veterans. "It's a generation," Logan told the paper, "that's vanishing." To correct that, she's taking their photographs with the aim of recording the stories of every veteran in her Oxford Hills community within the next few years.

In New York, Stacy Pearsall, a former Air Force combat photographer who served two tours in Iraq, is addressing old wounds with new photographs in her life after service. Pearsall's military career ended abruptly when she was wounded by an IED blast. 

"When I got wounded, I spent a lot of time in the hospital. I was looking around at other veterans. They really inspired me to want to do portraits," Pearsall told CNY Central. 

After getting healthy, Pearsall founded the Veteran's Portrait Project. She has already taken 3,000 portraits of veterans nationwide. 

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced a substantial overhaul of its current health care system on Wednesday. In a new plan, the VA will expand the department's nationwide medical services in a way that would allow veterans improved access to private care. Stars and Stripes reported that the VA asked for $421 million from Congress to begin merging government and private sector systems as a means for reducing the limitations veterans have faced for years.

Lawmakers enacted legislation to increase veteran eligibility to private care in 2014 with the Veterans Choice program. The $10 billion program affected about 1 million veterans, allowing them to use their military benefits at non-VA facilities. Based on figures stated by the VA, the ambitious new designs revealed this week will cost between $400 million and $800 million per year after the $1.2 billion to $2.4 billion needed for each of the first three years. They cautioned that those costs would rise if more veterans switched to the integrated system.

The new program could prove very popular. Any veteran living too far from a VA hospital, or who can't see a VA physician within 30 days, will now be able to visit a private doctor. Additionally, the VA hopes to institute a single set of rules to simplify a system that has been notoriously complicated. According to The Washington Post, department officials hope that improved methods of reimbursement and billing will draw talented medical practitioners back after its old systems proved unappealing.

Rep. Jeff Miller, the House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman, said that the "VA has always had fee-for-service but it wasn't used in the way the veterans expected it to be used. What we are trying to do is not tear down VA brick-by-brick but supplement it."

Before the overhaul can go into effect, Congressional approval is required.