Reid tells veterans hospital could be open in three years

Friday, Aug. 20, 2004 | 9:43 a.m.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., told a crowd of about 75 veterans and their friends Thursday that he hoped a veterans hospital planned for Las Vegas could open in three to four years, rather than four to five.

Speaking at the County Government Center, Reid also told the crowd that an amendment to end the 10-year phase-in of a new program to allow some disabled and retired veterans to collect both retirement and disability payments concurrently had been passed in the U. S. Senate. But the amendment is now in committee in the House, he said, and must pass Congress before it can be law.

Reid used the gathering to present a Bronze Star Medal to Tom Daniels, a Las Vegas resident since 1942, for his service in two campaigns of World War II.

Daniels said he had read that this entire platoon was supposed to receive the Bronze Star for its actions during the Battle of the Bulge after the platoon earned the Combat Infantry Badge. But Daniels had never applied for the Bronze Star. After the veteran wrote Reid a letter, the senator helped him to get the medal.

"It is with a great deal of personal pride that I present this medal to you 60 years after you earned it," Reid told Daniels.