Howard said his bruising began about 18 months ago. His doctors are aware of the bruising, he said. The roots of the Veterans Administration can be traced to the days of the Plymouth Colony. In 1636 the Pilgrims passed a law stating soldiers disabled in the war with the Pequot Indians would be supported by the colony. And in 1989, the Department of Veterans Affairs was established as a Cabinet-level position by President Bush.
More American veterans are alive today than at any point in the country's history.
And they aren't getting any younger. According to the VA, there are more than 19 million wartime veterans in the United States. Of those, more than 8 million are Vietnam-era veterans. In Texas alone, there are 1.6 million veterans. Of those, more than 550,000 fought in Southeast Asia.