He has been named a Distinguished Eagle Scout by the Boy Scouts of America and was awarded the Silver Buffalo Award for his national contributions to America’s youth. He is the President of the National Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
After completing law school and clerking for a federal judge, West entered the United States Army and served in the Judge Advocate General's Corps. From his military service, he earned the Legion of Merit and the Meritorious Service Medal. He subsequently practiced law at the firm of Covington & Burling before being appointed an associate deputy attorney general in the administration of President Gerald Ford. Then, West held several posts in the administration of Jimmy Carter: general counsel to the Navy (1977-1979), special assistant to the secretary and to the deputy secretary of defense (1979), and general counsel to the Department of Defense (1980-1981). As the Secretary of the Army, West commented on the Aberdeen scandal, which prompted stricter enforcement and investigation into the Army's sexual harassment policies.
West returned to private practice in 1981 with the firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler and later worked as senior vice president for government relations of the Northrop Corporation until he became a member of the Clinton administration.
Since leaving the government, West has worked as a lawyer and has served as president of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington-based think tank that works on issues that are important to minorities. He is also a strong supporter of and past board member of the Mount Vernon preservation society.
West, Jr. died of a heart attack on March 8, 2018 at the age of 75, while on a cruise traveling between Barbados and Puerto Rico.
Anton Ivanovich Denikin
Anton Ivanovich Denikin (Анто́н Ива́нович Дени́кин; December 16, 1872 – August 8, 1947) was Lieutenant General of the Imperial Russian Army (1916) and one of the foremost generals of the White Russians in the civil war.
Sea of Azov
The Sea of Azov ( - "Azovskoye more"; - "Ozivs'ke "or" Azovs'ke more") is the world's shallowest sea, linked by the Strait of Kerch to the Black Sea to the south. It is bounded on the north by Ukraine, on the east by Russia and on the west by the Crimean peninsula. The Don River flows into it.
Bellingshausen Sea
The Bellingshausen Sea is an area along the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula, between Alexander Island and Thurston Island. It takes its name from Admiral Thaddeus Bellingshausen, who explored in the area in 1821.
Flathead Lake
Flathead Lake is a lake in Montana. It covers .
James Peake
James Benjamin Peake (born June 18, 1944) was United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs from 2007 to 2009. In 2004, he retired after 42 years in the United States Army. He also served as the 40th Surgeon General of the United States Army.
Peake was born in Saint Louis, Missouri. Peake grew up in a US military family. His father joined the Army as an enlisted man, and became an officer who spent most of his 30-year career in the Medical Service Corps. Dr. Peake's mother was an Army nurse, and his brother was a naval aviator.
At the age of 18, he joined the Army when he was accepted to West Point. Peake received his Bachelor of Science degree from U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1966 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Infantry. Following service in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division where he was awarded the Silver Star, a Bronze Star with “V” device and the Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster, Peake entered medical school at Cornell University in New York. He was awarded a medical doctorate in 1972. He retired from the Army in 2004, as a Lieutenant General.
Peake served for four years as the United States Army Surgeon General. He also served as commander of several Army medical units. Key assignments include Commander, U.S. Army Medical Department Center and School and Installation Commander, Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Deputy Commander, U.S. Army Medical Command, Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Commanding General, Madigan Army Medical Center/Northwest Health Service Support Activity, Tacoma, Washington; Commanding General, 44th Medical Brigade/Corps Surgeon, XVIII Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Deputy Director, Professional Services/Chief, Consultant, Office of the Surgeon General, Falls Church, Virginia; Commander, 18th Medical Command and 121st Evacuation Hospital/Command Surgeon, Seoul, Korea; Deputy Commander for Clinical Services, Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii; Assistant Chief, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Staff General Surgeon/Chief, General Surgery Clinic, DeWitt Army Hospital, Fort Belvoir, Va.; and General Surgery Resident, Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
Awards and decorations that Lt. Gen. Peake has received include the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (with three oak leaf clusters), Bronze Star with "V" device (with one oak leaf cluster), Purple Heart (with one oak leaf cluster), Meritorious Service Medal (with two oak leaf clusters), Air Medal, Joint Services Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal with "V" device (with one oak leaf cluster), Humanitarian Service Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation, Joint Meritorious Unit Award (with one oak leaf cluster), Senior Parachutist Badge, Pathfinder Badge, Ranger Tab, Combat Medic Badge and Army Staff Identification Badge. After Vietnam, he attended Cornell University's Weill Cornell Medical College. He is also a graduate of the United States Army War College, in 1988.
After retiring from the Army, Dr. Peake served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Project Hope, a non-profit international health foundation operating in more than 30 countries. While at Project HOPE he helped to supervise the use of civilian volunteers aboard the Navy Hospital Ship Mercy as it responded to the Tsunami disaster in Indonesia and also as part of the Hurricane Katrina response aboard the Hospital Ship Comfort.
Just before to his nomination as Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Peake served as a member of the Board of Directors for QTC, one of the largest private providers of government-outsourced occupational health and disability examination services in the United States.
Peake's selection as VA secretary was announced on October 30, 2007. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 14, 2007 and sworn in at VA headquarters by Vice President Dick Cheney on December 20.
Neva River
The Neva River is a river in northwestern Russia. It is long. It flows into the Gulf of Finland. The city of Saint Petersburg is on its delta.
Kariba Dam
The Kariba Dam is a hydroelectric dam in the Kariba Gorge of the Zambezi river basin between Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is one of the largest dams in the world at 128 m high and 579 m long.
Antonio Villaraigosa
Antonio Ramon Villaraigosa (born Antonio Ramon Villar, Jr. on January 23, 1953) was the mayor of Los Angeles, California from 2005 to 2013. He was elected on May 17, 2005, defeating the mayor in office, James Hahn. He was then re-elected for a second term in 2009. Before his mayoral experience, Villaraigosa was the California State Assemblyman for the 45th District, the Speaker of the California State Assembly, and the Los Angeles City Councilman for the 14th District.
Before being elected to public office, Villaraigosa was a labor organizer. Villaraigosa served as a national co-chairman of Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 Presidential campaign, and as a member of President Barack Obama's Transition Economic Advisory Board. In 2013, he could not run for a third term because of term limits under California law. Eric Garcetti succeeded him on July 1, 2013.
Santa Monica Mountains