Born on the Fourth of July, the acclaimed 1989 Oliver Stone film tells the true story of the emotional and physical struggles of a Vietnam Veteran coming home from the war.

The film stars Tom Cruise as paraplegic vet Ron Kovic. Cruise, it has been reported, spent a year preparing for the role. He visited several veterans’ hospitals, read various books on the Vietnam War and practiced riding in a wheelchair. One report stated that Stone had suggested that Cruise be injected with a chemical drug that would render him paralyzed for two days; the director believed that the drug would help him realistically portray the difficulties of being a paraplegic. The insurance company responsible for the film, the same report says, vetoed the idea, believing that the drug would cause permanent incapacitation. Cruise’s performance was convincing enough to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Actor while Kovic and Stone received Golden Globe Awards for Best Screenplay.

While the film, first and foremost, carries an anti-war message, it does underscore the need for better care of our Veterans. That’s why it resonates this Fourth of July.

Hudson Valley residents awoke on Independence Day 2022 to the news that the Castle Point VA Medical Center will remain open, despite recent reports to the contrary.

Earlier this year, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) submitted a plan to the Asset and Infrastructure Review (AIR) Commission to close 17 medical centers across 12 states. The plan also included recommendations to close VA facilities in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and the shuttering of many services at the Northport VA hospital on Long Island. Castle Point VAMC currently serves over 7,000 veterans within a community of nearly 40,000 veterans in Orange, Dutchess, and Ulster counties, with over 52 percent of them being senior citizens.

With many Vietnam Veterans getting on in years, and vets from more recent conflicts in need of medical attention, the need for services to our Veterans has only increased in recent years. Now is not the time to curtail service for those who have served us.

Good news came late last week when Sen Chuck Schumer (D-NY) reported that a bipartisan group of his colleagues, including those who sit on the Senate’s Veteran’s Affairs Committee, heard the calls from the Hudson Valley and elsewhere to get these VA facilities open. They did the right thing and disbanded the AIR commission, putting an end to the plans for closure.

Doing the right thing for our Veterans is the only choice to have been made. And in these troubled times, it’s perhaps the best way to celebrate America’s birthday.