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2020 UAV Convention Speakers

The Ukrainian American Veterans are pleased to announce the convention speakers for the UAV 73rd annual convention to be held 6-7 November 2020.

  • Brigadier General Leonid E. Kondratiuk, Past National Commander of the Ukrainian American Veterans
  • Major General Borys Kremenetskyi, Defense Attaché, Embassy of Ukraine to the USA.
  • Keith Hancock, Senior Policy Analyst with the Veterans Benefits Administration
  • Les’ Melnyk, Chief of Public Affairs & Outreach for the National Cemetery Administration (NCA), Dept. of Veterans Affairs
  • Oksana Kolyada, Minister for Veterans Affairs, Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine, from August 2019 to March 2020
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Ivan Bohdan

Ivan Bohdan, the First Ukrainian American Veteran?

Was Ivan Bohdan the First Ukrainian American Veteran?

During the 1980s and 1990s, Ukrainian American active duty, Guard and Reserve officers stationed in Washington, DC held an annual dinner at the Fort Myer Officer’s Club near or on 22 January, the day Ukrainian independence was then celebrated. There were over two dozen of us. One year Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney was the speaker. Since the event was open to the Ukrainian American community, we had a large turnout.

As the historian for our group, I read a brief history of Ukrainian Americans who have served in the United States Armed Forces. That evening I mentioned that there was a Ukrainian settler in the Jamestown, Virginia colony. I got a big laugh since the civilians were skeptical, but our cohort of Army, Navy and Air Force officers gave me a big hand of applause.

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2020 Scholarship Winners

Meet the 2020 Ukrainian American Veterans (UAV) Scholarship Winners. Each year the Ukrainian American Veterans (UAV) Scholarship awards academic scholarships to undergraduate college students of Ukrainian descent. This year the UAV awarded $3,600 to 12 students, with awards ranging from $500 to $200.  Congratulations to the 2020 scholarship winners:

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A Brief History of Ukrainian American Military Service

The history of Ukrainian American military service is almost as old as the United States itself. Ukrainian Americans have served in every conflict since the American Civil War, and we continue to serve today.

Ukrainian Americans have a long history of service in the US Armed Forces. A few Ukrainians served in the Civil War; a few may have served in earlier wars as well. With the immigration of large numbers of Ukrainians to the US in the 1890s, several dozen Ukrainians enlisted in the US Army in 1898 during the Spanish American War. They were largely from Pennsylvania and all had been born in Ukraine. Their service was brief but significant to our history.

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