On July 4, 2026, America is celebrating its 250th birthday. America250, an organization seeking to commemorate this anniversary, has started many initiatives both locally and nationwide to celebrate this historic day, and the Department of Veterans Affairs is joining the initiative! Every Thursday until July 2, 2026, an America250 article will appear on VAntage Point and the VA’s social media platforms. In total, 250 Veterans will be featured.
The Vets who will appear in America250 include Medal of Honor recipients, trailblazers and others who have served. One post we’ve featured is Army Air Forces Veteran Ola Mildred Rexroat. Rexroat was the only Native American among 1,073 other women pilots who served in the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) organization during World War II. She greatly enjoyed serving in the Army Air Forces, and after the war, she joined the newly formed Air Force and served as an air traffic controller during the Korean War. She was also the first female air traffic controller to work for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Another example of an America250 story is that of Medal of Honor recipient and Navy Veteran Michael Monsoor. Monsoor served during Operation Iraqi Freedom as a Navy SEAL and was stationed in Ramadi. During a mission in September 2009, Monsoor and two other SEALs were based on a rooftop watching for enemy activity when a grenade landed near them. Monsoor threw himself onto the grenade, saving the lives of his two teammates and later passing away from his injuries. In 2008, he posthumously received a Medal of Honor.
Other people set to appear on the blog include one of the first female African American officers in the Navy, a World War I Veteran who received a Medal of Honor from two branches of the military and several Nobel Prize winners.
This project is not only long-lasting but internship-wide as it is being worked on by writing interns with the help of interns from other departments. Many stories from both well-known and little-known Veterans are in the works, and we look forward to telling them all. To see past America250 cards, you can visit https://blogs.va.gov/VAntage/?s=america250.
Writer: Sarah Concepcion
Editors: Annabelle Colton, Merrit Pope
Graphic Designer: Kiki Kelley
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