Air Force grants honorable discharge to 91-year-old gay vet
A 91-year-old veteran who was dismissed from the U.S. Air Force as “undesirable” in 1948 because he is gay has had that discharge status changed to “honorable.”
The move by the Air Force comes in response to a lawsuit filed in November by H. Edward Spires of Norwalk, Conn., who served from 1946 to 1948 as a chaplain’s assistant, earning the rank of sergeant.
Spires was forced out of the military in 1948 after an investigation into his sexual orientation.
Spires’ attorneys said he was originally denied the discharge upgrade after the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy in 2010 because the Air Force said his records had likely been lost in a 1973 fire.
The Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records informed Spires on Friday that the honorable discharge had been approved by the Air Force Review Boards Agency.
Spires’ attorneys have said he is in poor health and would like a military funeral, which the upgrade makes possible.
“The idea that this man of faith who served dutifully as a chaplain’s assistant in the armed forces, who built a life and a career that has brought joy to those around him, would leave this earth considered undesirable in the eyes of his country, it’s unthinkable,” Spires’ husband, David Rosenberg, said during a briefing on the case at the Yale Law School in November.
Spires’ case also was championed by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who said Monday that the Air Force’s decision “corrects an incredible injustice.” AP
Supreme Court lets stand Texas veterans tuition aid program
The U.S. Supreme Court has let stand an appeals court ruling that upholds a much-watched Texas program that promises free college educations to military veterans if they lived in the state when they enlisted.
The Hazlewood Act dates to the 1920s. State lawmakers expanded the program in 2009 to include the veterans’ children. Veterans also qualified if they entered military service at a Texas installation.
A veteran who enlisted in Georgia but moved to Texas after his discharge challenged the law’s Texas enlistment requirements. He won a trial court ruling state officials worried would send the program’s costs skyrocketing.
Texas appealed to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, however, which ruled that Texas residency rules were constitutional and the state has the right to regulate its own education system. AP
Work resumes at Colorado plant destroying chemical weapons
The Army has resumed the destruction of chemical weapons at a plant in Colorado after fixing a leak that caused a hazardous waste spill.
Officials say the Pueblo Chemical Depot destruction plant began operating again Jan. 9.
The depot is destroying shells containing mustard agent under an international treaty. Officials say the November spill released a byproduct of the destruction process but didn’t include any mustard agent.
Separately, officials are investigating how rainwater leaked through a liner in another area at the plant three days after the spill. The area was not in use at the time.
The plant is destroying about 780,000 shells filled with 2,600 tons of mustard agent. The work is expected to take until 2020.
Mustard agent kills or maims by blistering skin, scarring eyes and inflaming airways. AP