Stories

The story of Army Veteran William Huff, a resilient man who, with the help of the Salem VA Health Care System Team, defied the odds to return home to continue doing the things he loves most.

Veterans, VA staff and community members gathered on May 14, 2025, at the VA clinic in Lynchburg, Virginia, to celebrate the official renaming of the clinic as the Private First-Class Desmond T. Doss VA Clinic, in honor of the Medal of Honor recipient.

If you ask 100-year-old WWII Navy Veteran Emerson Pell if he’s a hero, be prepared for a short, modest response. He’ll pause for a moment, think, shrug his shoulders a bit – then say, “I was just a normal guy.”

Howard and Jean Johnston of Pearisburg VA, have been doing things together for over 30 years.

When he joined the Marine Corps in 1966, Steve Bozeman didn’t think he’d be flying combat missions – he enlisted to be a helicopter mechanic, but also became a combat door gunner earning 18 Air Medals and two Purple Hearts.

The ribbon was cut Friday, February 23, 2024 opening a new short-stay in-patient rehabilitation unit in Bldg. 7 at the Salem VA Medical Center.

Metrics and measurements often show companies how effective things are, but in the Fall of 2021 when Dr. Tanvi Patil looked at the numbers, she saw an opportunity to make things better for Veterans who receive care through the Salem VA Health Care System.

After three years of construction, the renovation of the Salem VA Medical Center’s 4J Med/Surg floor now boasts 20 private rooms with ensuite bathrooms.

Gifts were opened early in Salem’s Community Living Center when, on November 1, the CLC cut the ribbon on a Restorative Gym for residents.

John Burch Jr., a native of Lynchburg, Virginia, and World War II Veteran, will be the first to tell you he’s no hero. He repeats the phrase often because for him the sobriquet belongs to those who didn’t return from war, and the doctors – they were heroes.