VA Recognizes VA Veterans Day Parade Youth Essay Winners
October 21, 2009

PHOENIX - Students who authored winning essays about Veterans Day will read their work at an awards breakfast at the Phoenix VA Health Care System this week.  They will also get the chance to check out a real HMMWV since the essays will be delivered via the Army National Guard's Recruiter HMMWV. 

The Parade Essay Reading and Breakfast will be held in the lower-level conference room of the VA Ambulatory Care Clinic, located at the northeast Corner of Third Street and Indian School Road, in Phoenix.  The breakfast begins at 8 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 22. 

Veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) and Operation Iraqi Freedom who are serving as Veteran Grand Marshals of the parade will be in attendance. 

The essay contest is part of the Phoenix VA Health Care System's celebration of Veterans Day.

Nearly 450 students from 38 Arizona schools submitted essays on what the VA Veterans Day Parade theme, "Home of the Free, Because of the Brave," means to them. Entrants were divided into three categories - elementary, junior high and senior high school - and were judged by VA Medical Center staff.

After the breakfast, winners will help distribute all of the essays submitted to patients in the medical center. 

VA Veterans Day Essay Contest winners are:

• First Place, Elementary School - Alyssa Arenas, 5th Grade, Ward Traditional Academy, Tempe
• Second Place, Elementary School - Ali Castello, 6th Grade, Burk Elementary School, Gilbert 
• First Place, Jr. High School - Andrew Johnson, 8th Grade, St. Timothy Catholic School, Mesa
• Second Place, Jr. High School - Sierra Kennedy, 7th Grade, Desert Shadows Middle School, Scottsdale

The Carl T. Hayden Veterans Affairs Medical Center, which is part of the Phoenix VA Health Care System, has been serving veterans in Maricopa County since 1951.  We are a level one tertiary care facility that offers a variety of services to more than 72,000 veterans. We currently have 129 inpatient beds for medical and surgical patients, 104 beds for nursing home patients and 48 inpatient beds for mental health patients. We are honored to serve our veterans who have paid the price for us to enjoy our freedoms.

• First Place, Sr. High School - Elizabeth Malone, 12th Grade, Dobson High School, Mesa 
• Second Place, Sr. High School - Katie Gamboa, 11th Grade, Casa Verde High School, Casa Grande

First-place winners will receive a $200 savings bond and second-place winners receive a $150 savings bond. The winners also will ride on the Hall of Flame Fire Truck in the VA Veterans Day Parade, and have their winning essays printed in the parade program.

The VA Veterans Day Parade will be held Wed., Nov. 11, to honor all our nation's Veterans who have served in war, conflict and peacetime. This year's event will pay special tribute to those who have served in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), in Afghanistan, and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Four local OEF-OIF Veterans are serving as Grand Marshals of the parade:

• Laura Biggar, who resides in Tempe and served with the U.S. Marine Corps in Iraq in 2007 and 2008, providing convoy security and as a "lioness" with the Corps.
• Teri Brookins, of Mesa, a hospital corpsman with the U.S. Navy, who served in Iraq in 2008, and works at the Southeast VA Health Care Clinic in Mesa.
• Dr. Michael Chesser, of Glendale, who served with the Critical Care Air Transport Team of the U.S. Air Force in Iraq in 2008 and 2009, and is a physician at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix.
• Travis Schrum, who lives in Tempe and served with the Army National Guard as an infantryman in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008.

Other Parade Grand Marshals include three gold medalists from the 2009 National Veterans Wheelchair Games, who are VA patients:

• Dan Koston, of Phoenix, who served in the U.S. Navy from 1975 to 1979.
• Diego Suazo, of Surprise, who served in the U.S. Navy from 1990 to 1993 and is a Desert Storm combat veteran.
• John Tuzzolino, of Ahwatukee, who served in the U.S. Army from 1989 to 1991.

Also serving as Grand Marshals in the 2009 VA Veterans Day Parade will be:

• MajorFred Ferguson, Congressional Medal of Honor Grand Marshal, of Mesa. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor after he risked his life to save five comrades during the Tet Offensive in 1969.
• Dave Pratt, Celebrity Grand Marshal. Former longtime morning radio host, Pratt also has raised millions of dollars for Arizona charities.
• Gordon C. James, Business Community Grand Marshal, who worked with the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq in early 2004 and also served with the Army National Guard from 1969 to 1975. He is founder and principal of Gordon C. James Public Relations.
• Gabriel Pérez, VA Health Care Grand Marshal. Perez recently took the helm as Health Care System Administrator/Medical Center Director of the PVAHCS, after leading other VA facilities to outstanding performance in access and quality measures.